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Hampton Roads Contends with Shortage of Affordable Housing
from Port Folio Weekly by Cesca janece Waterfield November, 2004 NORFOLK, VA -- Tidewater Builder’s Association announced in October that they will feature moderately priced homes in next year’s Homearama. The plan will mix subsidized housing with middle- and upper-income homes and is a unique venture, since it breaks Homearama’s tradition of showcasing homes priced from half a million dollars to a million and more. The announcement comes at a time when area residents note a shortage of affordable housing and human service agencies struggle to serve families displaced by rising property values. “The problem that we have in this area, as in many urban areas, is the inability of people who are living at and below minimum wage to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing,” says attorney Phillip Boone of Tidewater Legal Aid. “The housing authority maintains waiting lists that stretch on for years.” Thaler McCormick, Executive Director of ForKids Inc., echoes the concern: “We are seeing the impact of the lack of affordable housing in our community. It is incredibly hard.” This summer, a meeting of “Empower Hampton Roads” proposed a solution that is gaining support nationally, “inclusionary zoning,” which seeks to provide fair access to jobs, education and housing by establishing zones that are more civic-minded. “Empower Hampton Roads” is a young yet impressively organized network established by area churches who address a list of regional social causes including health and child care, mental illness, and affordable housing. About five percent of the nation has already taken up “inclusionary zoning,” and Virginia’s General Assembly has authorized any local government to adopt it. Some of the provisions associated with inclusionary zoning mandate that a minimum percentage of Affordable Dwelling Units (ADUs) be built in subdivisions and apartment buildings of certain sizes, and authorize local housing authorities to rent or purchase a third of ADUs. Plans like those encouraged by “Empower Hampton Roads” see adequate, affordable housing – or what they term, “opportunity-based housing” – as being a broad step toward remedying other social issues, like unemployment/underemployment, poor schools, and public transportation, conditions that directly impact one another. Proponents say that opportunity-based housing would prevent a pattern we see currently throughout Hampton Roads- the poor being pushed out of their homes into substandard housing when property values escalate and they can no longer afford to live in the area. Attorney Boone admits that Tidewater Legal Aid receives pleas for help with “unsafe and unsanitary dwellings on a daily basis. We’re sometimes able to settle issues with the landlords directly, but we will represent the tenants in court.” Inclusionary zoning is a direction in which many human service agencies would like to see Virginia go. Thaler McCormick, Executive Director of ForKids, knows too well the area’s shrinkage of affordable housing, but like leaders of “Empower Hampton Roads,” she sees a comprehensive program as integral to getting permanent private homes for the growing numbers of displaced families she serves. ForKids provides temporary housing, education, counseling, tutoring, developmental assessments, transportation, childcare, and much more in efforts to get clients to a state of self-sufficiency, poised to stay there. While acquiring skills and savings would seem to make such independence certain, new housing in Hampton Roads is disproportionately high-end. Low- and middle-income families are left scrambling, even after job and budget training like that provided by ForKids may have allowed them for the first time to acquire savings. The problem intensifies when the tenant is unable to work. “Linda C.,” disabled and living on a fixed income, rents a small two bedroom house near Sentara Hospital in Norfolk. As new high-end condominiums have risen above her street, property values have as well. When the property owner informed her that he was going to raise her rent by fifty dollars each month until she was paying $850, she contacted Fair Housing, who sent the property owner a letter stating that under Virginia law, he could only raise the rent $50 over each six month period. She already pays more than half of her income toward rent. He has instituted the legal raise, and she says she will have to move soon, though she doesn’t know where. ForKids sees such situations involving physical disability regularly, and they offer permanent supportive housing. To qualify, a member of the family must have a diagnosable disability that demands support services. McCormick explains, “We recently had a woman who suffered from diabetes and bipolar disorder, the mother of two teenagers. She had a series of strokes and was placed in a wheelchair, virtually unable to talk. We have been able to keep the family together by providing supportive housing.” ForKids serves about sixty families a year in their emergency shelter. Though a four month maximum stay exists, thirty to forty five days is the average. They also have seven transitional units with a maximum stay of two years, though the average stay is six to twelve months. After achieving permanent private housing, clients can continue the support services – counseling, tutoring, education - for up to six months. “Seventy five percent of my clients are children. They are extremely high risks for developmental disorders, behavioral problems…They’re four times as likely to repeat a grade,” stresses McCormick. “Knowing this, how can we not end homelessness? We don’t want to be a band aid, but a cure, and it’s going to take some time to help parents gain the skills and abilities they need to become permanently self sufficient.” They need more than time, but also funding. One might expect that given ForKids’ achievements, the federal government would at least continue its level of funding from four years ago. After all, based on their success, the agency begun fifteen years ago by a few churches in Ocean View was invited to the White House to discuss national solutions to homelessness last year. But ironically, the Bush Administration preceded their invitation with a term full of hefty budget cuts. “We’ve seen consistent cuts in our funding for the last four years,” says McCormick “We haven’t had a cost of living increase for five years. We fundraise desperately.” To put such sharp cuts into perspective, consider that, “Four years ago and earlier we needed to raise $60,000 to $70,000 from the community. This year we need to raise $400,000 just to maintain our existing level of services.” The situation seems bleak, but organizations like ForKids, Tidewater Legal Aid, and Empower Hampton Roads continue working with the realities of poverty and inadequate housing; what many of us understand only abstractly. They struggle to raise money and awareness of groups that began as responses to what a few people saw as economic injustice. They find reward when they can break a generational pattern of homelessness. Successes like these and more, and perseverant political advocacy sustain them through budget cuts, frantic fundraising, and unresponsive lawmakers. “The thing I find very powerful about [ForKids], says McCormick, “is that these were people who said we are not going to let this happen in our community, and we’ve grown from there. Fourteen years later we’re at the White House. That says a lot for what can happen.” Back
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