Who can oppose the concept of creating what some call affordable, and others call attainable, housing? Home ownership is a life-changing experience, developing within the owner a sense of permanence, of security, of belonging. While there are plenty of renters who are outstanding residents in every community, owners help create a strong foundation of people who become more invested in their community.
eye of the beholder, but the basic concept of this sort of housing is to make the purchase price well below what’s available in the open market so that it introduces to traditionally has been excluded the possibility of ownership.
The City Council in Fayetteville several years ago identified development of affordable housing as one of its priorities. That decision became real dollars (almost) at last week’s City Council meeting as aldermen, by a 7-1 vote, pledged up to $1 million to help build streets, sidewalks and storm drains for a project called Houses at Willow Bend. Their resolution is not binding and doesn’t actually allocate the money. The housing subsidy will require City Council action later.
The group Partners for Better Housing has worked for several years to get the project off the ground. It’s envisioned as a 55- to 70-unit subdivision east of Walker park in south Fayetteville.
What’s surprising is how many questions came up during Tuesday’s meeting. With affordable housing as a core priority since at least 2007, one might suspect the city had thought through precisely how it might accomplish it. Tuesday’s plethora of questions would indicate otherwise.
Among the questions:
Adella Gray of Ward 1 wonders how to guarantee the homes will be owner-occupied, not purchased by someone who then sells them for profit or rent them out.
Alan Long of Ward 4 worried that the city could be subject to litigation for barring people of certain incomes from buying the homes.
Where will the money come from?
Perhaps that last question is among the most surprising, since the city was effectively issuing a statement of intent. Some aldermen had earlier pitched around the idea of paying for the project out of unallocated money from the city’s voter-approved, $65.9 million Transportation Improvement Bond Program, but Williams said since voters didn’t authorize affordable housing as an expenditure, doing so would likely be illegal.
One alderman thought it wise to borrow capital improvement funds for street projects to commit to Partners for Better Housing, then reimburse that fund with money from a voter-approved transportation bond issue.
That sounds a little too much like the old shell game for our comfort.
The city’s finance director said the $1 million could come from general reserve, which he estimated at $6 million of available cash.
That certainly sounds like the safest option.
We’re glad to see the city’s aldermen treading carefully when it comes to doling out funds for the development of affordable housing. We wish the housing project well, but most of all want city leaders to make sure Fayetteville’s generosity of spirit doesn’t come back in a legal entanglement nobody anticipated.
We also anticipate at the rate of $1 million, the city’s ability to promote affordable housing may be seriously limited.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 05/28/2013