INC NEWS - Column: Durham must do more to encourage affordable housing (Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

Column: Durham must do more to encourage affordable
housing
By John Schelp & Christina Rausch, Herald-Sun, 21
March 2008 

The Durham People's Alliance asks the City Council to
consider a five-point plan for our town: 

-- We ask that council hire a neighborhood advocate at
the assistant city manager level. The neighborhood
advocate should be an attorney or an experienced city
planner who would help tackle many of the issues
raised throughout the year and at "Coffees with
Council." 

The new position would assist neighborhoods and would
evaluate rezonings, planning initiatives and board of
adjustment matters independently of other departments.


The neighborhood advocate would serve as a liaison
between city and county governments and neighborhood
groups and provide support and staffing for a new
neighborhood advisory committee. (As Charlotte has
already done.) Perhaps the county could help fund the
position as they have for the Neighborhood College. 

This idea has already received strong support on local
listservs and blogs. As one local blogger said, "I
hope council can find the money to create this
position. Ten years from now, it will be looked back
on as one of the best decisions made, if they do it." 

The city and county should also dedicate staff to help
neighborhoods organize, do door-to-door surveys and
create revitalization plans. Finally, council should
reduce or eliminate filing fees for neighborhood
planning protests. 

-- We ask the city and county to ensure that new
housing developments include at least 20 percent
long-term affordable housing for home buyers, lower
income renters and/or low income people with special
needs. 

Just like the rest of the Triangle, Durham has a gap
in affordable housing that is growing. The excellent
work our nonprofits do to build housing is critical,
and public funding provides significant support, but
capacity is not sufficient to meet the ever increasing
demand. 

Housing prices are escalating and population is
rising. We can, however, explore and enact ordinances
and regulations that incentivize affordable housing
development by private developers, leveraging their
experience and capital. 

Inclusionary housing incentives could include
expedited review of plans and strengthening the
Affordable Housing Density bonus in the Unified
Development Ordinance. 

A number of counties and cities around the country
have enacted a variety of inclusionary housing
ordinances. Several cities in North Carolina have also
implemented ordinances -- successfully adding
affordable residential units -- including Chapel Hill,
Carrboro and Davidson. 

-- We ask the city to dedicate a penny of the tax rate
for affordable housing. It is essential to have
sustainable funding as we implement the 10 Year Plan
to End Homelessness. One penny of the tax rate would
produce at least $1.5 million, and would allow for
$500,000 each to be used to buy land for homeless
people with special needs, to buy and repair homes in
neighborhood revitalization areas and to help elderly,
disabled, and low-income homeowners with repairs. 

-- We ask the city to forgive all code penalties if a
current or new owner invests at least as much to bring
homes up to code. Under current guidelines, a house
sometimes has fines that add up to tens of thousands
of dollars. This house can then be worth less than the
fines assessed. Thus, there is no incentive for the
owner to complete repairs and the house either sits
abandoned and becomes totally uninhabitable, or is
demolished and the vacant lot sits empty. In either
case, in addition to getting rid of a possible home
for someone, the result has a significant impact on
the surrounding neighborhood. 

With both abandoned homes and vacant lots, there is
the possibility of the area being used for criminal
activity. Research has demonstrated that this scenario
reduces the property values of all the homes in the
neighborhood. 

-- We ask the city to increase Community Development
Block Grants available for affordable housing and
neighborhood revitalization. The City Council should
fund the basic service of housing inspections from the
regular city budget. This would free up funds from
federal grants to be used for building and repairing
homes. 

Community support is building for these ideas. The
board of the Durham Regional Association of Realtors
has already come on board in support of the 1 cent for
affordable housing and removing code penalties from a
property when it's going to be renovated. 

Indeed, 10 years from now, we will look back and see
this framework as one of the best decisions our City
Council has made. 


The authors are writing on behalf of the Durham
People's Alliance.