Affordable Housing: Can Durham Make Progress Soon?

Everyone running for city office in Durham has been talking about affordable housing.  There are many ideas bouncing back and forth.  The need for affordable housing is a big and complex problem that will require solutions from many sectors and with many strategies.  I don't think anyone doubts that.

Durham needs better wages from its employers.  While major employers in Durham have made commitments to paying a livable wage, still many of Durham's hard-working citizens make poverty wages.  Workers at many levels of income must work in various parts of the city and county, including downtown.  Durham City workers making a livable wage cannot afford housing downtown.  In fact, a livable wage worker makes less than half what the it would take to afford an apartment downtown at the average market rate.  The same goes for Durham County workers, Durham Public Schools workers, and Duke workers making a livable wage.  And those making minimum wage or a little more have even more difficulty finding affordable, quality housing.

Some might reply, "Everyone does not need to live downtown."  Of course that is true.  Yet good access to downtown with transit-based affordable housing and with affordable housing spread throughout the city, including downtown, makes sense.  Some downtown workers, at any income level, will want to live in various parts of the city and county.  Some also will prefer to be near their jobs.  Where it is possible to provide affordability in every part of town, it seems reasonable to take efforts to do so.

Everyone is talking about affordable housing, but it seems some have been talking past each other.  Mayor Bell has been promoting a rental subsidy from earmarked funds to make downtown affordable.  His plan could benefit many targeted families and persons whose income falls between 60% and 80% of the Area Median Income.  Yet many of Durham's workers, not necessarily living in poverty, fall below that 60% threshold. 

Councilwoman Catotti and other members of the council emphasized the need to have a comprehensive plan in mind as the City proposes and adopts specific affordable housing developments.  It is good that our Council is eager to plan rather than merely react.  A report that will contribute to promulgating a more comprehensive plan is already underway.  However, that does not in and of itself preclude moving ahead with a particular development which accords with the commitments the Council has already made as they continue to plan for even larger solutions.  Acting both now and in the future will help Durham work toward solving this complex problem.

Some approaches to subsidized housing are targeted toward very-low income citizens, some of whom are disabled or retired without adequate income to afford housing on their own.  Programs of the Housing Authority and other programs target providing housing to those people.  More is needed, as thousands of qualified households remain on waiting lists for years.

Between very low income and near median income, a group of workers are being squeezed out of housing.  Many of Durham's working citizens earn between 40% and 60% of AMI.  These workers and families would receive help from a project that draws upon the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program which allows a developer to reduce the cost of construction through tax credits.  Durham CAN, Self-Help Credit Union, and others have supported a downtown project that can build a large number of units of affordable housing next to the Durham Station Transit Center.

The Durham City Council primary elections have helped bring our focus onto affordable housing.  Everyone who received high percentages of the votes has been outspoken on the need for rapid and strong action to keep Durham affordable to all of its residents.  Now is the time to press forward on achieving success in developing affordable housing in all of Durham's neighborhoods, and with special focus on affordable housing near future transit stations.

Those who have talked past one another can arrive at proposals on which all can agree.  Affordable housing for citizens that brings together people of various income levels living in shared communities is a worthy goal.  It is achievable in steps we can take now and for the long haul.  As the November election approaches, citizens need to continue supporting candidates who are ready to solve the lack of affordable housing and make Durham a city open to all of its people.

Narrating the Story of Consumer Debt in the US

An interesting narration of the story of how consumers in the US came to be so heavily in debt appeared recently in the group blog Credit Slips. Kevin Leicht points out that real wages peaked in 1976. Since that time, the economy based on mass consumption has shifted its funding from good wages to open credit. As workers faced the exportation of industry, the decline of wages, and the shift from paying workers to paying executives, the economy depending on consumption had to find a way to keep its engine turning. Credit cards and borrowing were the replacement of a decent wage. Of course, this system ultimately took on the same characteristics of feeding on the very people on whom it depends.

This unsustainable economy has become a smash and grab system that will keep producing bubbles from irrational exuberance. The inevitable crashes will repeat as long as the idiotic assumption remains that a just economy is one in which the few are free to bleed the many until a "market correction" solves the problem. A better economy cannot come without some form of consumer protection which places guardrails and lane markers on the economic highway. Otherwise the behemoths will continue to "take their half in the middle" and push everyone else in the ditch.

Today our fair state of North Carolina is participating in a ritual of democratic governance through primary elections. I have been especially caught up in this election season for several reasons.

First, my church is part of a community organizing group called Durham CAN, and we are engaged with mostly local issues relating to poverty, youth, health, and other matters of quality of life in Durham. We held one of our most successful Delegate's Assemblies this past Sunday at the site of one of our newest member congregations, First Presbyterian Church. Our organizations showed up in strength, more candidates than we had expected showed up to interact with us, and the agenda went off as planned. We found candidates very eager to support our proposals concerning assistance to the elderly and disabled, job training for ex-offenders, and health department disease tracking.

We got a good report from Duke University that they have extended their policy of paying a livable wage to their own employees, extended to certain restaurant vendor workers a year ago a year ago, to include workers at 100% of vendors who do business with the university, and that by November all vendors will also offer health benefits comparable to the University's health benefits for workers. Duke is to be commended for its commitment to its workers. Durham CAN can claim some credit for making the livable wage a key issue of discussion in Durham. Before Duke made this policy official, already Durham CAN had helped to bring about its adoption by Durham County Government, Durham City Government, and Durham Public Schools.

At the assembly, I had my moment in the sun as I spoke about Durham CAN's relationships with similar groups: Charlotte HELP, Winston-Salem CHANGE, Orange County Organizing Committee, and North Carolina Latino Coalition. We operate together under the name North Carolina United Power. Our work together on issues affecting all our communities gives us reason to need relationships with the Governor, Lt. Governor, other statewide officials, and representatives in the NC Legislature. In the past we have also worked with member of the US Congress.

At this assembly, two candidates for Governor and two for Lt. Governor came at our invitation to publicly agree to meet with us and to make their case for why we should vote for them. My job was to ask them a question about agreeing to a future meeting and to tell them how long they would be allowed to speak. For a few minutes, I was able to tell these statewide officials where to stand and when to talk. It was a heady feeling, like being "King for a Day." The TV coverage, for some reason, was more interested in what the candidates had to say than in my speech or instructions, but you can see me for less than a second, standing in the elevated pulpit to the left of the screen, in a black suit.

Second, I have been very interested in this primary election because of the candidacy of Barack Obama. He has been a community organizer in the past, doing work similar to the work we do in Durham CAN. The way of organizing his campaign has demonstrated this experience, working to bring together everyday people to have their say. Moreover, his connection with Trinity United Church of Christ, a church with a strong record of community service and transformation, has piqued my interest. I've been writing here about Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright in recent weeks. Not all of the campaigning and campaign coverage has treated the racial politics of the U. S. with honesty and integrity, and I would hope that more people would be willing to put a mature conversation about race on the table, as Sen. Obama has said well in his Philadelphia address. So today I was pleased to have the opportunity to cast a vote for Sen. Obama in my precinct.

I have been accused for several rounds of recent elections of "wasting" my vote for president. Overall, I see little difference between the Republicats and the Demicans. Neither is committed to the ends and means of a politics that would pay attention to the convictions I hold dear. I have voted for Ross Perot (for a change), Jimmy Carter (a write-in on the basis of his life of service), and such. But I might be able to vote for one of the parties this Fall, if some of the commitments to health care, better international relations, a restructured economy, and grassroots participation continue to be on the agenda. Not only Obama has offered some of these good ideas. We'll see what today brings, and what the campaigns and ballots offer in November.

Building relationships across community lines is the surest foundation for social change that lasts and serves the common good. This past Sunday, the results of several years of relationship building began to bear fruit publicly in Durham, NC. Durham CAN (communities, associations, and neighborhoods), a community organizing group, gathered for a Delegates Assembly on the campus of Duke University. Holding the meeting at Duke was a major symbol of the relationship building that has been going on.

One of the priorities of Durham CAN for four or five years has been improving the economic conditions of all Durham citizens. One strategy for doing that has been promoting a "livable wage" policy with major Durham employers. Sometimes it is called a "living wage." It is an effort to make a more realistic assessment of the basic costs of a household, revised from the widely used "poverty line" figures which do not accord with current costs of housing, fuel, transportation, communications, education, etc. Over several years of work, Durham City Government (original ordinance preceded CAN involvement and amendment with CAN involvement), Durham County Government (policy in minutes of June 14, 2004 meeting, pages 12-14), and the Durham Public Schools all adopted the livable wage proposals put forth by Durham CAN and negotiated through the relationships built with leaders in those organizations and the community.

Students, professors, employees, and administrators at Duke University have been discussing issues relating to wages, job security, and health care for some time now. Some of the students and professors have for even longer been part of member organizations that make up Durham CAN. Duke University was also aware of these changes, and on their own set a "Duke wage" as a floor for Duke employees, much higher than the minimum wage and very close to the "livable wage" adopted by the city, county, and schools. At the same time, Duke students, professors, and employees began to organize more formally into a group called Duke Organizing. For about a year, Duke Organizing has been a member organization of Durham CAN, and together we have been engaged in conversations with Duke University administrators about employee wages and benefits. As anyone might imagine, the conversations and relationship building have not always been smooth, and the local paper highlighted some of the conflictual history. People on all sides have at times taken positions that did not immediately lead to agreement. But the persistence in building the relationships has been the key to getting results.

On Sunday, Duke University Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins, announced that the Duke wage and health benefits would immediately be a stipulation for all food service contractors who do business with Duke. It is a major step to help another 140 employees in low-wage jobs. It is also a major precedent which should continue to affect other employees at Duke. Finally, it is a major challenge to other employers in the Durham area to consider the way they compensate employees if they want to be able to retain them. In the long overview of the process, Durham CAN has led at many stages of the process, but we have also been blessed to be working with institutions and leaders who have shared our convictions of making Durham a better place for all its people. Together, we can see even greater things happen for Durham's workers, communities, businesses, and public institutions.

Another relationship building process also led to a public announcement at the assembly. The number of uninsured workers in Durham is rising, as it is all over the country. The County, the hospitals, the doctors, the clinics, the social services--everyone is working to do what they can to see that people have access to medical care. Yet there are many gaps. For instance, access to primary care is much more available than access to specialty care. To address this crisis, Durham CAN and a critical mass of major players: The Durham-Orange Medical Society (doctors), the Department of Social Services (records and referrals), the Lincoln Health Center (free and low-cost clinics), Durham County (health care funder), Duke (major charity care provider), and major insurance providers, have agreed to participate in Project Access. It should make available specialty care for thousands of patients a year who might otherwise let themselves get so sick that they end up in the emergency room getting crisis care, or even worse. It is an effort to fill gaps that could only happen if people start making relationships for the purpose of serving the public good.