A voice to be heard and a story to be told

Last Wednesday, the NC Housing Coalition headed to the heart of Harnett County, Lillington, North Carolina. We were on a mission to resume the Postcard Project, an ongoing initiative to convince our legislators that the NC Housing Trust Fund needs a dedicated revenue source. We believe that our legislators need to hear from those who have a safe, affordable place to call their own because of the NC Housing Trust Fund, so we went to Fairview Pointe and Fairview Manor, two housing developments built by money from the NC Housing Trust Fund.

As we approached Fairview Pointe and Fairview Manor, we were immediately taken aback by the beautiful buildings and peaceful atmosphere and could not help but notice the camaraderie among residents. At Fairview Manor, seniors gathered in the lobby to socialize and read newspapers, while children at Fairview Pointe rode bikes with their friends on the sidewalks.

The high temperatures did not stop residents from coming outside to get their pictures taken for the postcards. Not long after we set up our equipment, residents began asking questions and wanting to learn more about our project. They joined us for snacks while filling out postcards to send to Rep. David Lewis, Rep. Mike Stone, Sen. Harris Blake, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, Sen. Bill Rabon, Sen. Bob Rucho, Sen. Tom Apodaca, and Sen. Kathy Harrington.

From single-parent families to individuals with disabilities to survivors of domestic violence, the residents of Fairview Pointe and Fairview Manor were eager to share their stories with us so that their voices could be heard by legislators. Some residents wanted to tell their legislators how they found themselves at Fairview Pointe and Fairview Manor:

"I went through domestic violence. During that emotional time, the NC Housing Trust Fund really is greatly appreciated. I am a single parent, and I am thankful for all that they do."

"I need affordable housing because I was displaced by Hurricane Katrina."

"Hopefully one day, homeless people can get off the streets, like I was at one time."

Other residents showed appreciation for the housing that they have in an effort to convince the legislators that North Carolina needs more affordable housing:

"Me and my daughter love living here. It is a very nice place to live. It is clean and safe."

"I really appreciate that people on a fixed income can find affordable, quality housing due to this trust fund."

"The affordability of nice, low-income housing is the best thing that has happened in this section of Harnett County."

Every resident's voice deserves to be heard, especially by the legislators, who are the ones that make decisions about the revenue source of the NC Housing Trust Fund. In addition, every resident's story deserves to be told. We are glad that the Postcard Project serves as a means to do both.

Check out these pictures of the residents in front of their homes, which were built by money from the NC Housing Trust Fund!

A picture is worth a thousand words…

If you read our last blog post, you learned about why the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund is necessary for providing affordable homes in our state. In short, the Housing Trust Fund helps rehabilitate and preserve the existing housing stock in North Carolina and also creates new affordable housing. However, as you know, the Trust Fund receives inadequate funding, and the focus of the Campaign for Housing Carolina is to secure a dedicated revenue source for the NC Housing Trust Fund.

We wanted to let everyone know about our recent undertaking, the Postcard Project, which showcases how the NC Housing Trust Fund has given individuals and families a place they can call their own. We created the Postcard Project because we want lawmakers to witness the past successes of the Trust Fund, and the project is an effort to show lawmakers the faces of residents whose lives have been changed from housing provided by the Trust Fund.

Here’s the lowdown on how the Postcard Project works: At the housing developments, we host a get-together for the residents. At the get-together, we take pictures of families and individuals living in the housing and put them on the postcards to send to legislators. Each person signs a postcard for every legislator in their county and for the chairs of key committees. Then, we let the residents tell their stories by writing personal messages on the cards. So far, the NC Housing Coalition has traveled across the state to the housing developments of Brookridge, Maplewood Square, Hunters Hill, and Nia Point and to construction agencies that build affordable housing, such as Weaver Cooke and Village Crossing. To date, we have mailed approximately 1,007 postcards to 59 legislators representing 14 counties with many more to come.

Also at the get-togethers, we provide snacks, drinks, and activities for the children. In addition to being an opportunity for the residents to learn more about how to ensure that more affordable housing is built, the event serves as a way to build community. It is so touching to witness the smiling faces of residents and their appreciation for their homes, and although we cannot disclose pictures of the residents, we wanted to share a couple of photos of the housing developments from our past visits.

The photo above is from the opening of Brookridge in Raleigh, NC. (Developer: DHIC)

Above: Maplewood Square in Durham, NC, is a housing development for seniors. (Developer: DHIC)

Above: Nia Point in Charlotte, NC, is a housing development for families. (Developer: Crosland)

Above: Weaver Cooke in Greensboro, NC, is a construction agency. (Developer: Weaver Cooke)

This week, the Postcard Project will take us to Lillington, North Carolina, to visit Fairview Pointe and Fairview Manor, two housing developments for families and seniors, respectively. Thanks to Mills Construction, the developer, and United Property Management for helping organize the event. Stay tuned for an update!

Why we need the NC Housing Trust Fund

Housing Trust Funds often don’t get the respect they deserve. It’s easy for someone to take them for granted, especially if one isn’t looking for housing or emergency shelter. However, affordable housing is something that improves the lives of so many people all over North Carolina. We need to more closely examine what families really need to have healthy, safe, and affordable housing. It’s especially important to do so during this time of economic recession and discussions of drastic budget cuts.

In North Carolina, legislators are in the midst of deciding how or if the Housing Trust Fund should be funded. Now’s the perfect time to take action and help them understand what a fully funded Housing Trust Fund could do for our state. I’ve heard several questions about the Housing Trust Fund, I think the answers make a clear case for why we need it to be fully funded.

Who benefits from the NC Housing Trust Fund?

The NC Housing Trust Fund provides funding for a wide range of projects and services throughout the state. All of the money allocated to the NC Housing Trust Fund goes into bricks and mortar for the projects, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency absorbs all of the administrative costs.

The NC Housing Trust Fund provides the vital funding that so many programs need, such as: domestic violence shelters, affordable apartments for seniors, group homes for developmentally disabled youths, and transitional housing programs for the homeless. Not to mention transitional housing programs for veterans, or housing for children in foster care.

To sum up, the elderly, youth, women and children, veterans, and persons with disabilities all benefit from housing programs funded by the NC Housing Trust fund. It makes a strong impact in every community.

Why is a housing trust fund important for our state?

Right now, North Carolina has a shortage of 328,000 rental homes and apartments with incomes below 50% (and 30%) of local median income.

544,000 families in North Carolina pay more than they can afford for their rent, a 13% increase from 2000.

12,160 North Carolinians are homeless.

The Trust Fund has created 14,500 jobs

In North Carolina, the Housing Trust Fund is the only state appropriated funding source for providing permanent housing for homeless families, the elderly, or persons with disabilities. It allows seniors or persons with disabilities to continue living in their own homes through rehab and modification.

The Trust Fund needs a substantial, recurring appropriation in order to maintain its progress and continue helping families in need.

Why should we fund the NC Housing Trust Fund now?

The funding for the North Carolina’s Housing Trust fund has been volatile since its creation in 1987. It’s ranged anywhere from $20 million to $0.

This fluctuation in funding has made it difficult for affordable housing developers to have dependable funding sources. It often takes several years to plan a housing development. Local governments become hesitant to commit their municipalities’ limited resources when the Housing Trust Fund fluctuates so widely from year to year. That’s why we should take advantage of the opportunity legislators in NC have to create a dedicated revenue source in North Carolina. This would provide a way for communities to have a reliable source of funding they can count on every year.

Also, the Housing Trust Fund Study Commission, which recommended the creation of the Housing Trust Fund back in 1987, has favored creating or finding a dedicated revenue source for the Trust Fund especially one that is related to the real estate industry.

Who supports a Housing Trust Fund?

There is a broad coalition of organization that support the Housing Trust Fund. Click here to see a full list.

How can I help create a Trust Fund in North Carolina?

Call or email your state Senator today and urge him or her to support SB 462 and the NC Housing Trust Fund. You can find your legislator here. Here’s a link to a factsheet about the Housing Trust fund for some talking points. Together, we can make a great difference for families in North Carolina!

Veterans and Affordable Housing

An often misunderstood, under-served and vulnerable population are our veterans. Recently, Chris, Carley, and Sonia met with Jeff Smith who leads the Veterans Leadership Council of NC-Cares (VLCNC-Cares). He shared some shocking statistics with us - one out of every three veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress syndrome and an average of 18 veterans a day commit suicide. VLCNC-Cares is one of the few organizations working to connect homeless veterans to the services they need including finding safe and affordable housing. One way we can help them in their mission is to demand ample funding for the Housing Trust Fund which helps create housing for those who have sacrificed for our country.

Please take some time each week to let legislators know you care about these issues and what they mean for folks back home in their districts.

NC Housing Landscape

In February, the Center for Housing Policy (CHP) published the Housing Landscape 2011. CHP found that nationally, housing affordability worsened significantly between 2008 and 2009 for working households. Working households are defined as those with incomes no higher than 120 percent of the median income in their area. In the United States, 10.5 million working households had a severe housing cost burden in 2009, which is an increase of almost 600,000 since 2008. A severe housing cost burden means the household is spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing costs.

According to CHP, North Carolina is one of the 25 states that had a significant increase in the share of working households with severe housing cost burden. Twenty percent of working households in North Carolina have a severe housing cost burden. North Carolinians who spend so much on their housing costs often have little left over for other essentials such as food, medical costs, transportation, and child care.

To view national and state statistics from the Center for Housing Policy's Housing Landscape 2011 click here.

Out of Reach

On Monday, Out of Reach 2011 was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based housing policy organization, and the North Carolina Housing Coalition. The report provides the Housing Wage and other housing affordability data for every state, metropolitan area, combined non metropolitan area, and county in the country.

The 2011 Housing Wage for North Carolina is $13.81. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to be able to afford the rent and utilities for a safe and home in the private housing market. North Carolina’s Housing Wage has increased 30% since 2000.

Data from Out of Reach supports what we know about North Carolina: low income families are still struggling to find decent and affordable housing in communities across the state. While we work to rebuild our economy after the recession, we cannot forget the low and moderate income families across the state whose basic housing needs continue to be unmet.

Working at the minimum wage in North Carolina, a family must have 2 wage earners working full-time – or one full-time earner working 76 hours per week, 52 weeks per year – to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

The typical renter in North Carolina earns $11.52 per hour, which is $2.29 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a modest unit.

An estimated 50% of renters in North Carolina do not earn enough to afford a two-bedroom unit at the Fair Market Rent. This is the highest level in the history of this report which dates back nearly 20 years.

For more information and to view the report click here.

The Cost of the Budget Crises on Affordable Housing

Lately, I’ve heard many different news stories about our state and national budget debates. It’s hard to wrap my head around all the numbers that fly around. I want to figure out what these cuts could mean for people who are looking for housing assistance from our government.

Last week the U.S. House passed a bill, known as H.R.1, as an attempt to address our national budget crisis. Even Speaker Boehner admits that it is “one of the largest spending cuts in American history”. H.R. 1 is a $1.2 trillion bill that would require $61 billion in cuts to the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. This proposal moves to the Senate on February 28th. Congress has until the end of next week to reach a decision or else face a government shut down.

The federal budget cuts could have long lasting ramifications for housing programs across our country. The following programs would be dramatically affected by the cuts:

• Public housing- More than 43% of the public housing capital could be cut. This would greatly accelerate the reduction of public housing units and reduce the number of units available for elderly and disabled persons.

• Veterans Affairs- The proposed cuts would eliminate 10,000 new Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, and 10,000 new homelessness demonstration vouchers. These new resources would have provided housing for 161,000 people who are currently homeless.

• Section 202 housing- This program, which provides housing for the elderly, would be cut by $587 million. A similar program, Section 811, provides housing for persons with disabilities. Section 811 would also be cut by $210 million. These cuts would prevent approximately 6,400 units from being built.

• Community Block Development Grant- This program, which has helped communities across the nation strengthen their affordable housing programs, would face funding cuts as great at 66%.

• Native American Housing Grant- $200 million could be cut from this program, resulting in approximately 1,750 households not being served.

Unfortunately, our state budget discussions are not looking any better for affordable housing advocates. Gov. Perdue presented her budget proposal on February 17. Gov. Perdue avoided a cuts only approach to the budget, and by doing so she preserved jobs for teachers, bolstered mental health funding, and protected community colleges. Together NC points out that even though the Governor’s budget proposal was pretty good, our state would still be devastated by the fact that thousands of people would lose their jobs and our university system would take a heavy funding cut.

The problem for our state elected officials is that Republican legislators are promising a cuts only approach to the budget. This is where major damage could happen to our state. If we were to close the budget gap the way Republicans propose the following problems would be created:

• Education- 5,000 teachers and 13,000 teacher assistants would be laid of from our public schools. Class sized would be increased at every grade level. 1,000 teachers would be laid off from our community colleges. This would eliminate 100,000 class registrations and create a $10 per credit hour increase.

• Smart Start and Community Health Services- These programs would face massive cuts which would prevent thousands of families from receiving the services they need.

• Real estate values- Real estate revenue dropped dramatically throughout 2009, leaving many state governments (like ours) with just over $4 in tax revenues for every $5 collected in 2008. The slow pace of the economic recovery will keep real estate revenues below pre-recession levels for years to come. This will hurt us as the need for public education, health care, and public safety continue to grow. This situation will not be improved with a cuts only approach to the budget.

• Closure of 4 state parks- We’d lose these parks, and all other state parks would close Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

• Families already aren’t getting the help they need- Without additional revenue for next year, North Carolina’s budget will be the smallest the state has had in over 40 years. Already, so many people are in need of more assistance. Wait lists for many Public Housing Authorities are years long or have been closed. We don’t need to shrink the resources so many families are already counting on.

These proposals could turn into our reality next year. However, they haven’t been enacted yet. We have the opportunity to make a difference for programs that serve so many families across our nation. If you agree that our governments need to take a different direction with their budgets you can make a difference. You can do so by contacting your Governor, state legislator, or Senator Hagan, or Senator Burr.

After looking more closely at these numbers it’s hard to believe that this is the best way forward for our country. We have the power to stand together and ask our elected officials to take a way forward that is socially just and fiscally sound.

If you’re concerned about the our NC budget, join TogetherNC

For more information about facts on the national budget click here, for facts on the state budget click here.

Affordable Housing and Job Creation

Building affordable housing not only creates jobs in the construction sector, but also stimulates the local economy in less obvious but substantial ways.

According to an article called The Role of Affordable Housing in Creating Jobs and Stimulating Local Economic Development from the Center for Housing Policy, the development of affordable housing increases employment and spending in the local community, is an important source of revenue for local governments, and reduces the likelihood of foreclosure and the costs that are associated with it.

It’s not surprising to learn that the building of affordable housing creates jobs in the construction field and therefore supports businesses that supply the construction trade. But in addition, affordable housing further stimulates the economy when the workers spend their pay at the local retailers, health services, and restaurants. According to the article, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimates that building 100 new Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units can lead to the creation of more than 120 jobs during the construction phase. After the units are built, the residents continue to support about 30 jobs.

Local governments can also benefit from building affordable housing. Revenues from affordable housing include fees for permitting, zoning, utilities, as well as sales, income, or property taxes. NAHB estimates that 100 of the units when occupied by families generate $827,000 in local revenue immediately.

When families live in housing they can afford they will have more money to spend in the local community. Local business can receive benefits from the increase in the purchasing power of these families. Affordable housing that is also energy efficient will reduce the utility costs for the families, leaving them with even more money to purchase goods from local businesses. Additionally, builders of energy efficient homes stimulate the local economy by buying from local suppliers in order to reduce cost to the environment through transporting materials.

Affordable lending programs save the government money by reducing the chance for foreclosure. A study found that borrowers who received subprime loans were three to five times more likely to default on their mortgage than those who received prime loans through affordable lending programs. Local governments absorb many of the costs of foreclosures including boarding the property, trash removal, court and legal expenses, increased police and social services for the affected area, and demolition of severely distressed properties.

Increasing the support for affordable housing can be a way to create more jobs in North Carolina, but it can also stimulate local economies.

This is a short summary of the article, to read the full article click here.