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 Communities Succeed when housing is affordable:

If the number of “whatever happened to” questions fielded by the board and staff of OCEANA’S HOME Partnership is a reasonable indicator, more folks followed our efforts to build a subdivision in Hart than was apparent late last summer when those efforts came to a surprising halt –  in about two weeks time we went from unanimous approval at the Planning Commission to so little support at the City Council that a motion to approve our plans couldn’t even be voted on because no one seconded that motion.

For quite some time the “whatever” question was probably met with a vacant stare, which we hope was most often interpreted as “I’m still trying to figure that out”. Or, depending on who you asked and the number of cloudy days that week, you probably heard a bit of grumbling about the unfairness of it all, from which we hope the only thing you understood was something like “we’re disappointed, not defeated.” 

But as my mom always assured me, we made it through and, beginning with an ad and an insert in today’s paper, we lived to tell about it, hopefully in a more meaningful way than when freshly wounded. 

So what happened? The most likely suspect turned out to be ourselves. We simply didn’t complete our homework. We allowed a small group of opponents to define who we are and what we do, generating a good deal of misinformation in the process. Today’s ad and insert is the  first installment of our make up assignment. Please look for them. And watch for our next installment in the next few issues of this paper.

What we hope you now hear is that we understand our local officials are neither our enemy nor the enemy of affordable housing. Local officials are charged with maintaining livability in our communities that face many physical and fiscal challenges. They know their obligations but often feel caught between that proverbial “rock and a hard place,” as many narrow interests push them to resist change.

Instead of simply stirring the pot, as any attempt at advocating for affordable housing is sure to do, we hope readers and local officials alike understand that we, too, have an obligation and that, as we carry out our mission, we are also working to build a positive and informed relationship, one where local officials are a positive force for affordable housing and community-based services for all residents, regardless of circumstance. Getting there requires both policy development and advocacy. Today and in later installments we’re focused on advocacy. But there will be opportunities for policy discussion as well, most notably the Oceana Housing Summit scheduled for March 31st. This event, co-sponsored by the Oceana Housing Council and the Community Foundation for Oceana County, hopes to bring public officials, service providers and private builders together to explore opportunities for building communities in which all of us win.

We know, and local officials know, there is a broad base of support for affordable housing. Recent surveys in other communities report that six in 10 residents believe more affordable housing is needed and support building it in their area. The same surveys indicate that virtually all residents believe affordable housing is a basic human right and that families have a better chance to succeed when affordable housing is available.

But that same research also challenges us to mobilize the affordable housing majority. Often, in specific instances like ours last fall, more opponents appear on the scene than supporters. Our challenge, and the purpose of the inserts and ads that begin in today’s paper, is to turn the majority of affordable housing supporters into a more active force. Because reasonable people can disagree on details, the proposal we advance may still find resistance when revisited later this year. We can only hope then that the opposition is based on fact, not fiction.

While the inserts and ads that begin in today’s paper provide a dose of reality to specific myths that surfaced when our plans were presented, there is one overriding reality that sets the context for any discussion that follows: Communities succeed when housing is affordable. When elderly residents can keep their older homes, young people can find that first apartment, and parents and children can put down roots with confidence, our whole community benefits. But today our communities are under pressure. Many families are doubling up, mobile homes are becoming the predominant housing unit in many townships, older neighbors are being displaced and many families are moving too often, disrupting their lives, hurting their ability to make a living and threatening their children’s success in school – all because affordable housing alternatives are not available.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There are solutions. Let’s make more housing more affordable and our communities more successful. Don’t be silent. Let local officials know you support measures to make housing more affordable. That doesn’t mean giving any developer a blank check. But it does mean finding room for affordable housing with reasonable access to schools and services. And it means helping local officials advance reasonable proposals that work for all of us.