By Megan V. Williams
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-635997.mp3
Wilmington, NC – To answer the question of what our region can do to make housing more affordable for more people, we're actually going to start 700 miles away from here in Highland Park, Illinois.
Highland Park is a small, affluent Chicago suburb, and the home of one of the nation's most aggressive packages of affordable housing policies.
Their story starts back in the '90s when, according to Highland Park Senior Planner Lee Smith, real estate prices started going through the roof.
...And the community saw itself changing, where small ranch houses were being sold for 400,000, being torn down, and being replaced with houses that were over a million dollars.
It was then that members of Highland Park's city council began to wonder what would happen to their own children. Where would the next generation of middle class workers live? So the Council did what governments often do: they formed a committee. But this committee, Lee says, had teeth.
So a lot of times in communities that have a plan that gets adopted and sort of sits on the shelf and never gets done. You had this commission of people who were very interested in seeing that their recommendations not lie dormant.
It took a few years, but Highland Park eventually put in place four big affordable housing policies: employer assistance programs to help workers buy homes, a demolitions tax to fund new housing projects, a land trust so non-profits can just sell houses while holding onto the land, and inclusionary zoning, which requires developers include some affordable units in every new private development.
Lee says that last one was a real hard sell.
It has taken a lot to work with the development community to have them understand that we are serious about our requirements. For the first year and a half, developers would come in and say, they wanted to build a certain type of project, and how could they get out of the affordable housing requirement?
So, is anyone talking about inclusionary zoning in New Hanover County?
Uh, no.
That's Jody Wainio, head of the Wilmington realtors association's Affordable Housing committee. When it comes to this neck of the woods, she thinks voluntary is still the way to go.
And some of that is kind of making a deal with a developer to say, hey we'll change the zoning or allow higher density in this area if you agree to have a certain percentage in the affordable range.
In Southeastern North Carolina, members of the real estate industry have joined with local non-profits and government agencies to brainstorm housing strategies that might work for the region. The Affordable Housing Coalition meets monthly in an echoing conference room at Wilmington's City Hall.
Wainio says the group takes a two-pronged approach, trying to create more affordable housing options while at the same time, educating lower-income buyers about the choices that do exist.
I think the perception right now is that there is no housing stock: 'I can't ever afford to buy a house here, prices are just too high.' And in some cases that is true. In some areas of town, there are no affordable houses. But the other part is, let's make sure that they know about the programs that are available and see if we can't get them into something that is in New Hanover County or is in Wilmington.
On the policy side, Wainio says the Affordable Housing Coalition is talking with local officials about changing the zoning laws to encourage affordable housing, although nothing's in writing yet.
Around the country, cities are looking at how their own rules can actually inhibit affordable housing. Candace Stowell with the American Planning Association says it just starts with some basic questions.
Do you allow accessory apartments? Do you allow smaller lot sizes for single family? Are you allowing duplexes, town homes? Do you have enough land zoned for these different densities of housing?
Stowell says the affordable housing toolbox is growing for cities, as more and more places worry about housing their lower-income workers.
It's not just an issue in San Francisco or New York or Chicago. It's something that's impacting everybody.
Many of the residents of Brunswick County are feeling that impact first hand, after years of intense, and often high-end, growth. Resea Willis with the Community Development Corporation says she's having an easier time getting the ears of officials lately, a change she attributes to a groundswell of public support.
At the first affordable housing summit hosted by her group, Willis says she expected twenty people to show up. Instead, she got a hundred.
And what was amazingly so, they weren't the usual people. Usually when a non-profit does something, the non-profits come out, concerned citizens, the do-gooders come out. But that's not, I mean, those people came out. But also we had architects who came out and attorneys and real estate agents and large associations. We had the Police Department Association come out, and the Teachers Association come out. Because what had happened was all these are affecting all these people that before they didn't effect.
And just like in Highland Park, Illinois, Willis says these people were worried about whether their children will be able to afford to live where they grew up.
But while Brunswick County is beginning to explore affordable options, it may already be too late. For all the efforts in Highland Park, planner Lee Smith is slow to call it a success.
I think that judging success is relative. Because, are we going to meet the demand for affordable housing in Highland Park with what we're doing? It's really unlikely that we will.
Smith says studies show Highland Park needs 700 units of affordable housing to fully serve its citizens. With all their efforts, city fathers hope to produce at most 150 in the next decade. The APA's Stowell says the best even the most aggressive communities can hope for is to hold the line.
You're always going to be behind in terms of meeting the need, so I think you have to sort of start from the perspective of, how do we make sure... that from this day forward at least we're doing the right things?