VIRGINIA ORGANIZING PROJECT: Affordable Housing Campaigns

Here are three local projects of the Virginia Organizing Project that are organizing for affordable housing. If you are in these areas you might be interested in getting involved with them.

Northern Shenandoah Valley Housing Campaign
VOP Chapter Housing Committee

The Northern Shenandoah Valley VOP Chapter Housing Committee:

• Established January 2006
• March ’06 – VOP wrote to Senator George Allen and contacted local officials to try to preserve the Perry House in Woodstock as affordable housing.
• May ‘06 – wrote to each County and the City of Winchester to ask if they had an identified housing resource person on staff. Only Frederick County answered; it does not have such a person.
• December ’06 – VOP held an event at the Winchester Salvation Army honoring local nonprofits and urging local government to act.
• February ’07 – The Chapter became aware of HOME funding plans, decides to ask that HOME Consortium Board be 50% housing consumers (renters)
• March ’07 – VOP represented at 6 fair housing meetings
• June ’07 – VOP speaks on housing need, HOME program at 5 Board of Supervisor meetings and Winchester City Council – many Supervisors are unaware of HOME program
• July ’07 -- Winchester issues fair housing report denying connection between fair housing (race, disability) and need for affordable housing, despite VOP testimony
• August ’07 – HOME Consortium Advisory Board begins to organize bylaws, etc.
• Fall ’07 – VOP meets with Continuum of Care (homelessness agencies) and monitors HOME Consortium Advisory Board
• Feb-April ’08 – VOP organizes vigils at several County Boards, City Council, follows up with letter-writing to HOME Consortium Advisory Board, passing out flyers at Winchester rental communities, asking for more HOME funds for renters
• May ’08 – VOP summer interns begin knocking on doors around the Northern Shenandoah Valley, getting names of people to get involved with the housing campaign
• June ’08 – VOP members and supporters met and decided to put resolutions forward in each county calling for serious action on rental housing needs
Contact: Larry Yates at 434-984-2803

Northern Shenandoah Valley Housing Campaign
INFORMATION SHEET

Housing Policy Decisions in the Northern Shenandoah Valley
HOME funding:
The Northern Shenandoah Valley is on the verge of major new housing funding. But even many well informed community people do not know about the Northern Shenandoah Valley HOME Consortium. They do not know that around $3.5 million will come here over the next five years, intended to meet low income housing needs identified by the community. They also don’t know that the Consortium Advisory Board currently suggests that less than 20% of that funding go to assist to low income renters.

Since VOP found out about the HOME Consortium in early 2007, we have informed congregations, disability groups, the Warren-Page NAACP, and many grassroots leaders about this funding source. In the February cold, we held vigils outside the Page, Shenandoah, and Warren Board of Supervisors meetings and Winchester City Council. We talked to local people entering these meetings. We have written letters to the editor.

Most people have agreed with us that the most urgent housing needs – those of very low income renters – should come first.

The Northern Shenandoah Valley HOME Consortium is governed by a Board with one representative from each County, City and Town in the area. That Board will begin to meet in September to decide what will happen with the $700,000 expected to come to the area in 2009-2010.

Lack of County housing staff and programs

None of the 5 counties in the Northern Shenandoah Valley – Page, Shenandoah, Warren, Clarke, or Frederick – has even one housing staff person. Only the City of Winchester has a housing office.

What does this mean?

Opportunities are missed. Even the HOME program funding has only been made available because of hard work by the City of Winchester; the Counties did almost nothing but “sign off.”

We lose resources we already have. In Shenandoah County, the John Perry House was lost as a resource for future seniors and people with disabilities. No one in Shenandoah County government took action to protect them – because it was no-one’s job.

Meeting housing needs has no priority. These counties have staff to deal with septic tanks, industrial development, historic preservation, and many other matters – but no-one assigned to identify and deal with urgent housing needs of their residents.
Other Virginia Counties have made a different choice. York County’s Division of Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization has all these housing and community development programs:

Housing Rehabilitation
Family Self Sufficiency
Individual Development Accounts (IDA)
Homeownership Counseling
Affordable Housing Incentive Provisions (AHIP)
USDA-Rural Development Loans
Sponsoring Partnerships and Revitalizing Communities (SPARC)
Utility Connection Fee Assistance
Emergency Home Repair
USDA-Rural Development Grants
Indoor Plumbing Rehabilitation Program
Help-to-Others (H2O) Program
Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)
Information & Referral

York County has 10,000 less residents than Frederick County, and gets about 2/3 as much revenue from its local taxpayers.
Contact: Larry Yates at 434-984-2803

Williamsburg--The Inclusive Housing Campaign

The Inclusive Housing Campaign is based on the belief that people who work in the greater Williamsburg area (Williamsburg and James City County) should be able to afford to live here.

As housing prices soar, many people, including those who provide core services in this community, such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, and health care providers, discover that they simply cannot afford to purchase a home here. The Inclusive Housing Campaign knows that offering quality housing that is affordable for lower-and middle-income families enriches and strengthens our community.

The Campaign offers James City County a way to meet its commitment of providing affordable housing for its community members—a commitment laid out in the County’s current Comprehensive Plan.

What does “affordable housing” mean?

James City County defines affordable homes as those costing no more than $150,000.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), housing is affordable when households spend no more than 30% of their income on housing. Housing costs are determined as follows:

* For homeowners, combine the total cost of principal on mortgage payments, interest, property taxes, and insurance.
* For renters, total rent and utilities.

The average selling price of a single family home in the Williamsburg area is $354,000. The median household income for a family of four in the Williamsburg area is $55,594/yr.

Contact: Ben Thacker-Gwaltney at 757-570-3005
Link : The Inclusive Housing Campaign