Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware? Annual Report on Housing Affordability in Delaware Affordability Gap: New Castle County: “How much do you need to earn to afford rent and utilities on a modest two-bedroom apartment?” * Homeowners: -$68,474 Tenants: -$608/month Kent County: Homeowners: -$82,663 Tenants: -$480/month The 2016 National Housing Wage is $20.30/hr Delaware’s Housing Wage is $21.70/hr Sussex County: Homeowners: -$212,074 Tenants: -$548/month *at fair market rent 2016 HousingForAll.org Delaware Housing Coalition WhyNIMBY.org WHO CAN AFFORD TO LIVE IN DELAWARE? 2016 Board of Directors Letter from the Executive Director Carrie Casey Deborah Gottschalk, Esq. Bobbie Hemmerich Sarah Keifer Dorothy Medeiros Joe L. Myer Brenda Osborne Jim Peffley Susan Starrett Bill Swiatek Amy Walls Brad Whaley "The Out of Reach data reflect a grim reality across the nation. There is no place in the United States where a minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment,” said Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition upon release of the Out of Reach data in May. "We as a nation must respond by investing in affordable housing for the lowest income households in America. The new national Housing Trust Fund is one solution, but it will require many more resources to address the need." Staff Patricia Kelleher, Executive Director Jeannine Knight, Office Manager Editorial Staff: Stephanie Ferrell Ken Smith Delaware is the 12th most costly rental market in the U.S. with a housing wage of $21.70. Therefore, if a housing choice voucher (formerly known as Section 8) or subsidized unit is not available, many are forced to spend more than 50% of their household income on housing and skimp on other necessities - such as food and healthcare – or to live in units that are inadequate or dangerous. And in fact, Delaware’s waiting lists for vouchers are either closed or encompass several thousand persons. Families faced with these realities are often unstably housed and unable to save for emergencies, and so are at risk of becoming homeless if a crisis occurs and they are forced to skip a rent payment. The financial and psychological stress endured by these households adds to their overall burden. Society has failed these households. The demand for rental housing is at its highest level since the 1960s. In the past decade, the U.S. has added nine million renter households, but only 8.2 million rental housing units. Vacancy rates are at their lowest levels since 1985 and rents have risen at an annual rate of 3.5%, the fastest pace in three decades. The nation’s 10.4 million extremely low income (ELI) renter households currently face a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental units; in Delaware, there are only 32 affordable and available units for every 100 ELI renter households. Contact Information Delaware Housing Coalition PO Box 1633 Dover, Delaware 19903-1633 Phone: 302-678-2286 Fax: 302-678-8645 www.housingforall.org www.whynimby.org Wage stagnation and income inequality contribute to the gap between what people earn and the cost of their housing. From 2007 to 2015, the bottom 10% of wage earners saw a 0.2% increase in real hourly wages, while the top 5% saw an 8.7% increase, continuing a long-term trend of growing income equality. Contents: Summary 1 Cost to Live in Delaware 2 Delaware Rental Housing Out 3 of Reach Delaware Housing Cost Burdens and Income 5 Special Housing Needs 7 Homeownership and Foreclosures 9 Solutions 10 Sources 10 Homeownership has been the traditional route to housing stability and wealth accumulation in the U. S. but is becoming more difficult to achieve for low and moderate income households, because of tighter credit and underwriting regulations and soaring costs. In Delaware, the gap between what is affordable and what is available is widening, most astonishingly in Sussex County where that gap is now -$212,074. The irony is that a mortgage payment may well be a lot more affordable to low and moderate income households than renting in a tight and expensive market. The answers are not simple or cheap. However, inadequate or indeed, no housing for the up to 8,300 Delaware households who face homelessness each year, leads to expensive and unwanted outcomes in our society. Therefore, more investment is needed in housing choice vouchers, affordable rental housing, permanent supportive housing for special populations and the chronically homeless, and in making homeownership viable for low and moderate income Delawareans. Trish Kelleher, DHC Download a .pdf version of this report Go to www.housingforall.org and click “Publications” Delaware Housing Coalition HousingForAll.org WhyNIMBY.org 1 Summary Housing Burden Among the Very Poor  Of the 103,775 renter households in Delaware, 25,521 – or 25% - are severely cost- burdened spending more than 50% of their income on housing.  There is an estimated 18,322 sub-standard units, 12,788 owner occupied and 5,534 occupied by renters.  There are 24,290 extremely low-income renter households, that is, at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI), and 77% of those households are severely cost-burdened.  For every 100 extremely low-income households (at or below 30% of AMI), there are only 32 units of affordable housing available.  There is an immediate need for 16,820 affordable housing units to fill the state deficit for extremely low income Delaware households.  Approximately 8,300 households experience homelessness in Delaware each year. Special Housing Needs  Delaware is one of 17 states where the average onebedroom rent is higher than monthly SSI payments.  We are one of only 4 states where the one-bedroom rent exceeds 100% of SSI in every part of the state.  In 2015, in Delaware, a person with a disability received SSI benefits equal to $721 per month. Statewide, this income was equal to 17.0% of the area median income.  On average a person with a disability receiving SSI pays 106% of their monthly income to rent an efficiency unit and 123% of their monthly income for a onebedroom unit. Renters  Of the 50 states, Delaware has the 12th highest two bedroom housing wage at $21.70.  The Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom apartment ranges from a low of $952 in Kent County, to $1,012 in Sussex to a high of $1,210 in New Castle County. The rental gap in Sussex County has increased by $199 in only two years, a much higher pace than either of the other two counties.  In all three counties, monthly two bedroom fair market rents far exceed – by a range of $488 to $548 – rents   affordable to a four person extremely low income household. In Delaware, the average hourly wage earned by renters is $16.03, which is $5.67 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a typical two bedroom unit. A Delaware earner must earn $21.70 per hour, or $45,138 annually, to afford a typical two bedroom apartment. In New Castle County the hourly wage needed is $23.27, in Sussex County it is $19.46. Homeownership  In the final quarter of 2015, the median purchase price for a house in Delaware ranged from $194,100 in Kent County, to $215,000 in New Castle County and $316,260 in Sussex County.  Foreclosure filings fell from 2,856 in 2014 to 2,200 in 2015. However, filings at the end of April 2016 totaled 1,146, a number that causes concern for the rest of the year.  There were 1,334 sheriff sales in 2015, but the trend is again worrying for 2016 as 645 had taken place by the end of April.  Continuing tight credit guidelines and high sales prices prove challenging for aspiring first time homebuyers. Wages, Income, and Wealth  The poverty level income for a one person household in Delaware is $11,770. For a family of four, it is $24,250.  There are 107,101 households at or below the poverty level, that is 12% of the population, and 35,052 (17%) children under the age of 18 are living in poverty.  The average income of the top 1% is 16.2 times that the bottom 99%.  Although recent adjustments have raised the minimum wage in Delaware to $8.25, it remains far below the housing wage of $21.70.  Of the 28% of Delaware households that are renters, 23% are extremely low income earning less than 30% of AMI.  Declining upward mobility and growing political and economic inequality perpetuate harmful social conditions that undermine civil society and thwart the missions of charitable and philanthropic organizations. For an online glossary of terms, go to www.whynimby.org. WHO CAN AFFORD TO LIVE IN DELAWARE? 4 2 2016 AFFORDABLE HOUSING: THE 30% RULE OF THUMB Cost to Live in Delaware The 30 percent “rule of thumb” represents an evolution of empirical norms and public policy dating from the era of the Great Depression. During that period, “one week’s pay for one month’s rent” was the norm and was accepted. This formula was subsequently incorporated into public policy which both identified housing need and eventually, was used as a Housing Cost to Income Ratio (HCIR). We use the 30% rule here for simplicity and in order to compare to other research including the previous editions of Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware? Kent New Castle Sussex Delaware Homeowners Median Home Price $194,100 $215,000 $316,260 Affordable Price (low income, 50% AMI) $111,437 $146,526 $104,186 Gap between Median and Affordable Prices –$82,663 –$68,474 –$212,074 $952 $1,210 $1,012 89 113 94 $472 $602 $464 – $480 – $608 – $548 Delaware Tenants 2-Bedroom Rent (Fair Market) Minimum Wage Hours of Work Required per Week Affordable Monthly Rent (low-income, 30% AMI) Gap between Fair Market and Affordable Rents About Statistics: HOMEOWNERS: Delaware State Housing Authority, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Affordability is calculated for a household with an income of 50% of Area Median Income with a mortgage at 3.75% for 30 years, 33%-38% debt-to-income ratio, and $200/month for taxes and insurance and “other debt” of 12%. TENANTS: Out of Reach 2016, National Low Income Housing Coalition. Minimum wage in Delaware is $8.25. An extremely low income household has an income at or below 30% of the Area Median Income. Source: Out of Reach, 2016, NLIHC.org Delaware Housing Coalition HousingForAll.org WhyNIMBY.org 35 Delaware Rental Housing Out of Reach New Castle County Average Renter Wage $17.36 2-Bedroom Housing Wage $23.27 Number of Renter Households 61,784 Hours at Minimum Wage Needed for 2-BR FMR 113 Number of Jobs Needed at Minimum Wage 2.8 Kent County Average Renter Wage * $15.78 2-Bedroom Housing Wage $18.31 Number of Renter Households 17,205 Hours at Minimum Wage Needed for 2-BR FMR 89 Number of Jobs Needed at Minimum Wage 2.2 Sussex County Average Renter Wage $10.92 2-Bedroom Housing Wage $19.46 Number of Renter Households 17,197 Hours at Minimum Wage Needed for 2-BR FMR 94 Number of Jobs Needed at Minimum Wage 2.4 Rent Vs. Income, by County $2,500 $2,008 $2,000 $1,500 $1,573 $1,545 $1,210 $1,012 $952 $903 $602 $1,000 $568 $500 $472 $464 $429 $429 $429 $220 $220 $220 $0 Two bedroom FMR Rent affordable Rent affordable Rent affordable Rent affordable Rent affordable at median with full-time job at 30% of AMI with full-time job to SSI recipient income paying mean paying min wage renter wage New Castle County Kent County Sussex County WHOWCHO AN CAAN FFORD AFFORD TO LTO IVELIN IVEDIN ELAWARE DELAWARE ? ? Delaware Rental Housing Out of Reach 2 4 2016 STATE FACTS 2016 Minimum Wage $8.25 Average Renter Wage $16.03 2-Bedroom Housing Wage $21.70 Number of Renter Households 96,186 Percent Renters 28% KEY FACTS 105 Work Hours Per Week At State Minimum Wage Needed To Afford a 2-Bedroom Unit (at FMR) 2.6 In Delaware, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,128. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $3,761.50 monthly or $45,138 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of: Number of Full-Time Jobs At Minimum Wage Needed to Afford a 2-Bedroom Unit (at FMR) $21.70 per hour Rent Vs. Income, Statewide $2,000 $1,825 $1,800 $1,600 $1,400 $1,200 $1,128 $1,000 $834 $800 $547 $600 $429 $400 $220 $200 $0 Two bedroom FMR Rent affordable at median income Source: Out of Reach, 2016, NLIHC.org Rent affordable Rent affordable at with full-time job 30% of AMI paying mean renter wage Rent affordable with full-time job paying min wage Rent affordable to SSI recipient Delaware Housing Coalition HousingForAll.org WhyNIMBY.org 5 Delaware Housing Cost Burdens and Income Housing Cost Burden by Income Group Total Renter Households Severely Burdened Households* % with Severe Burden Affordable and Available Rental Units per 100 Surplus (Deficit) of Affordable & Available Rental Units Income at or below 30% of AMI** 24,290 18,858 78% 32 -16,623 Income between 31% and 50% of AMI 15,380 4,432 29% 58 -16,820 Income between 51% and 80% of AMI 20,484 1,714 8% 102 1,119 All Renter Households 103,775 25,521 25% Source: NLIHC tabulations of 2013 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) Rental Affordability by County Total Renters AMI 30% of Rent AMI Affordable at 30% of AMI 1 BR FMR 1 BR Housing Wage NEW CASTLE 61,784 $80,300 $24,090 $602 $1,003 $19.29 KENT 17,205 $62,900 $18,870 $472 $823 $15.83 SUSSEX 17,197 $61,800 $18,540 $464 $756 $14.54 2 BR FMR 2 BR Hrs Avg. Housing at Renter Wage MW Wage for 2 BR $1,210 $23.27 113 $17.36 $18.31 89 $15.78 $1,012 $19.46 94 $10.92 $952 Source: Out of Reach 2016 * Severely Burdened: Households spending more than 50% of income on housing costs, including utilities. ** AMI: Area Median Income WHO CAN AFFORD TO LIVE IN DELAWARE? 4 6 2016 Delaware Housing Cost Burdens and Income Many Delaware renters are extremely low income and face a housing cost burden. Across the state, there is a deficit of rental units both affordable and available to extremely low income (ELI) renter households, i.e. those with incomes at 30% or less of the area median income (AMI). Housing Cost Burden by Income Group Renter households spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs and utilities are cost burdened; those spending more than half of their income are considered severely cost burdened. KEY FACTS 103,775 OR 12% Households in this state that are renters 24,290 OR 95% 90% 86% 79% Cost Burdened Severely Cost Burdened 88% Renter households that are extremely low income 44% 30% 4% Deeply Low Income (0-15% of AMI) Extremely Low Income (0-30% of AMI) Very Low Income (31-50% of AMI) 23% 12% 0% Low Income Not Low (51-80% of Income AMI) (81%+ of AMI) $24,250 Maximum poverty level income for a family of four 16,820 Deficit of units affordable and available for extremely low income households Housing Shortage by Income Threshold The lower the income threshold, the greater the shortage of affordable and available units per 100 renter households. $21.70 State Housing Wage 109 0 - 80% of AMI 53 0 - 50% of AMI 34 0 - 30% of AMI 0 - 15% of AMI 21 Source: Out of Reach, 2016, NLIHC.org The hourly amount a household must earn to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at HUD’s Fair Market Rent 25,521 are severely cost burdened, paying more than 50% of their income for housing Delaware Housing Coalition HousingForAll.org WhyNIMBY.org 75 Housing Affordability and Delawareans with a Disability (SSI) 2008 2010 2012 2014 Non Elderly Adults with Disabilities Receiving SSI Benefits 8,555 9,253 10,205 10,372 Percent of SSI Needed to Rent a 1-BR Housing Unit 122.3% 123% 124% 123% Percent of SSI Needed to Rent an Efficiency Housing Unit 108.6% 109% 107% 106% SSI as a Percentage of One Person Median Income 16.6% 16.6% 16.6% 17.0% SSI as an Hourly Wage $3.68 $3.89 $4.02 $4.15 Source: Priced Out in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, www.tacinc.org Special Housing Needs Comparison of Minimum Wage with Efficiency and One-Bedroom Housing Wages County Minimum 0-Bedroom Difference 1-Bedroom Difference Wage Housing Housing Wage Wage Kent New Castle Sussex $8.25 $8.25 $8.25 $13.13 $15.96 $13.52 ($4.88) ($7.71) ($5.27) $15.83 $19.29 $14.54 ($7.58) ($11.04) ($6.29) Source: Out of Reach 2016, nlihc.org Monthly Rent Affordable to Selected Delaware Households by Income Level Compared with Two-Bedroom FMR (=$1,128) Rent $1,128 Median Income Delaware Family Can Afford $1,825 Gap Mean Renter Wage Earner $1,128 $834 ($294) Extremely Low Income Household (4-person) $1,128 $547 ($581) Minimum Wage Earner $1,128 $429 ($699) SSI Recipient $1,128 $220 ($908) Extremely Poor Delaware Renters Rental Affordability Gaps by County for 4-Person Household ELI Rent Sussex (ELI ≤$18,540) $464 $1,012 $602 New Castle (ELI ≤$24,090) Kent (ELI ≤$18,870) 2-BR Fair Market Rent $1,210 $472 $952 Source: Out of Reach, 2016, NLIHC.org; Priced Out in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, www.tacinc.org (Note: 2014 is most recent year available) WHOWCHO AN CAAN FFORD AFFORD TO LTO IVELIN IVEDIN ELAWARE DELAWARE ? ? 6 4 8 2016 Delaware is one of 17 states where the average onebedroom rent is higher than monthly SSI payments. We are one of only 4 states where the one-bedroom rent exceeds 100% of SSI in every part of the state. Special Housing Needs Delaware SSI Payments and Housing Costs In 2015, in Delaware, a person with a disability received SSI benefits equal to $733 per month. Statewide, this income was equal to 12% of the area median income. On average a person with a disability receiving SSI would have to pay 107% of their monthly income to rent an efficiency unit and 126% of their monthly income for a one-bedroom unit. SSI Monthly Income SSI as % of AMI % SSI Needed for a 1-BR % SSI Needed for Efficiency Unit Kent $733 14% 112% 93% New Castle $733 11% 137% 113% Sussex $733 14% 103% 96% Statewide $733 12% 126% 107% KEY FACTS 107% The percentage of the income of a Delawarean receiving SSI required for the average efficiency apartment. − 7,290 Deficit of Affordable and Available Units for Delawareans below 15% of AMI − 14,580 Deficit of Affordable and Available Units for Delawareans below 30% of AMI 10,372 Number of Delawareans Receiving Supplemental Security Income Homelessness and Disability “Because of their limited incomes and the high cost of housing, many people with disabilities have become chronically homeless.” Olmstead and the Need for Permanent Supportive Housing “Public entities such as state and local governments have a legal obligation to serve people with disabilities in the most integrated setting possible. On June 22, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Olmstead v. LC, a lawsuit against the State of Georgia that questioned the state’s continued confinement of two individuals with disabilities in a state institution after it had been determined that they could live in the community. “The Court described Georgia’s actions as “unjustified isolation” and determined that Georgia had violated these individuals’ rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Due to the Olmstead decision, many states are now working to meet their obligations implementing [“Olmstead Plans” and Olmstead-related settlement agreements]” -- from Priced Out in 2014 Sources: Technical Assistance Collaborative, Priced Out 2014: the Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities, and Out of Reach, 2016, NLIHC.org (Note: the TAC report has not been released since 2014) Delaware Housing Coalition HousingForAll.org WhyNIMBY.org 95 The affordability gap for prospective homeowners in Sussex County continues to grow at an alarming pace from -$168,240 in 2015 to -$212,074 in 2016. This gap between affordability and the fair market value indicates that first time homebuyers - and other low and moderate income earners – are being priced out of homeownership, which erodes their ability to stabilize housing costs and accumulate assets. The gaps are not as wide in Kent and New Castle Counties but remain daunting for many households. HOME OWNERSHIP GAPS FORECLOSURE FILINGS 800 $316,260 Foreclosure Filings 2014: 2,856 2015: 2,200 2016 YTD: 1,146 600 $215,000 500 $194,100 400 300 $146,526 $111,437 $104,186 200 Median Price (Q4) Price Affordable to Low Income (50% AMI) 201 0 201 1 201 4 Jan Sep t Jan May Sep t Jan 201 3 May Sep t Jan 201 2 May Sep t Jan May Sep t Jan May 0 Sussex ( - $212,074) Sep t New Castle ( - $68,474) Jan Kent ( -$82,663 ) May 100 201 5 201 6 Although foreclosures dropped statewide in 2015, the trends for 2016 suggest that they are once again on the rise, possibly because Delaware continues to work through a backlog of delinquent loans. Additionally, data provided by the Delaware State Housing Authority indicates that 25,389 – or 11% - of homeowners are severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of income towards their housing, and therefore at risk of falling behind in their payments. 7,000 0 1,146 2,200 2,856 2,288 2,174 1,276 1,000 2,121 2,000 2,204 3,000 2,592 3,853 4,000 4,488 5,000 5,112 6,157 6,000 6,457 DELAWARE FORECLOSURE FILINGS, 2005—2016* 2,121 Home Ownership and Foreclosures 700 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016* *As of April 2016. Source: DSHA, destatehousing.com 6 4 10 WHOWCHO AN CAAN FFORD AFFORD TO LTO IVELIN IVEDIN ELAWARE DELAWARE ? ? 2016 How We Can Solve the Crisis Solutions, Sources, and Recommended Reading Ensure significant funding for the National Housing Trust Fund! The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) will provide communities with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for extremely and very low income households. NLIHC continues to work to ensure that the NHTF receives enough funding through dedicated revenue sources to address the urgent housing needs of millions of Americans. Find out more at www.nhtf.org. It is also critical to preserve and improve the nation’s public housing stock, expand the number of housing vouchers, and increase funding for other programs providing affordable housing to truly end this crisis. Online Housing Resources Listed below are some of the organizations in Delaware which are involved in providing information on our affordable housing crisis: Community Wealth: community-wealth.org Delaware Housing Coalition: www.housingforall.org Delaware Housing Needs Assessment 2015-2020: demo.gis.gcr1.com/Delaware_GIS/ Delaware Housing Search: www.delawarehousingsearch.org Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council: www.dcrac.org Delaware Housing Search: delawarehousingsearch.org Delaware State Housing Authority: www.destatehousing.com Diamond State CLT: www.diamondstateclt.org Homeless Planning Council: www.hpcdelaware.org NCALL Research: www.ncall.org Technical Assistance Collaborative: www.tacinc.org Why NOT In My Back Yard?: www.whynimby.org Recommended Reading Gar Alperovitz, “Inequality’s Dead End — And the Possibility of a New, Long-Term Direction,” The Nonprofit Quarterly, Spring 2015. Calculator: www.mortgagecalculator.org Collins, Chuck, 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do about It. John Emmeus Davis, The Affordable City: Toward a Third Sector Housing Policy, Temple University, 1994. Delaware Housing Coalition and others, Community and Choice: Housing Needs for People with Disabilities in Delaware, April 2012. Delaware Housing C0alition, Community Impact: The Effects of Assisted Rental Housing in Delaware, Econsult and Kevin Gillen, October 2012. Delaware Housing Coalition, Investing to Meet Delaware’s Affordable Housing Needs: An Economic Impact Analysis, http:// www.housingforall.org/Final%20DE%20Economic%20Impact%20Study%20November%202004.pdf Delaware State Housing Authority, Delaware Housing Fact Sheets, Affordability Gap, destatehousing.com. Delaware State Housing Authority, Statewide Housing Needs Assessment 2015-2020. Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Minimum Wage Issue Guide, http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/tables_figures_data/ Martin Gillens, Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. National Low Income Housing Coalition, Congressional District Housing Profiles, www.nlihc.org National Low Income Housing Coalition, Housing Spotlight, March 2013 , www.nlihc.org National Low Income Housing Coalition, Instability Among Our Nation's Veterans. www.nlihc.org National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach, 2015 , www.nlihc.org Steven C. Pitts (UC-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education) and William E. Spriggs, Beyond the Mountaintop: King's Prescription for Poverty (Howard University Department of Economics), April 2008. http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/blackworkers/ mountaintop_report.pdf Report and Recommendations of the Working Group on Extremely Low-Income Housing Needs, December 2009, http:// www.housingforall.org/ELI%20WG%20Final%20Report%20121409.pdf Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, “Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data,” Working Paper 20625, NBER . Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price, The Increasingly Unequal States of America: Income Inequality by State, 1917 to 2011, an Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) report published February 19, 2014. go.epi.org/unequalstates Technical Assistance Collaborative, Priced Out 2014: the Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, huduser.org, 2011. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010. Summer Housing e Th Journal Published by the Membership of the Delaware Housing Coalition Bigger Isn’t Beer A LAND ETHIC Peter Victor T We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. --Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac Food Security, Land Use, and Housing Gina Miserendino T he definition of food security has evolved. Originally developed for its application to overseas agricultural assistance, the term food security was later adopted to better describe food insufficiency in US households. The original definition incorporated three dimensions (1) safe and adequate food supply at national and households levels, (2) the necessity to have a reasonable degree of stability in the food supply both from one year to the next, and during the year, and (3) physical, social, and economic access to enough food so that each household can meet its needs. (International Conference on Nutrition) In both the global and domestic arenas, food security focused on the individual or household level. Mark Winne reports as U.S. food and agricultural issues such as low farm prices, environmental concerns, local food systems and the relationship between diet and health came to the fore, food security as an individual or household matter began to merge with the problems facing food producers and the larger food environment under the hybrid concept of com- 2009 munity food security with a generally accepted definition of “a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self reliance and social justice” (Hamm, 2001). Community food security has focused on the connection between economic viability of the farm sector and the food security of low income people. Food Systems In his discussion of food systems Kenneth Dahlberg advocates that issues exist at each of these levels: household, neighborhood, municipal, regional, national, and transnational. (Dahlberg, 1993) His issue categories include production i.e. an area’s ability to grow its own food, farmland preservation, the recognition of the association between urban and agricultural issues, and an area’s dependence on outside food. The capacity of a vicinity to process/manufacture its food is another issue area; distribution of food includes the ability within an area to gain access to (see page 6 ) here’s nothing like a good crisis to make us rethink old ideas. The depression of the 1930s led to the rejection of the prevailing idea that unemployment would right itself if only people would work for lower wages. Governments could do very little to help. These ideas were overthrown by experience and by the invention of modern macro economics by British economist, John Maynard Keynes. By the end of World War II, most Western governments had adopted Keynesian economic policies designed to ensure that total expenditures were sufficient to maintain full employment. Keynesian economists soon discovered that full employment today meant a bigger economy tomorrow because some of the in- vestment expenditures required to keep unemployment down: on infrastructure, buildings and equipment, also expanded the productive capacity of the economy. So does an expanding population and labour force. Initially, governments pursued economic growth to meet the more pressing concern of maintaining full employment, but this soon changed. In the 1950s, economic growth became the number one economic policy objective of governments and all others, such as productivity, innovation, free trade, competitiveness, immigration, even education, became a means to that end. Until a year or so ago all seemed to be going reasonably well. Then came the breakdown in the finan(see page 4) Homes Still Cost Too Much John Wasik Y ou would think with home prices still dropping like hailstones in most areas, that homes would be bargains. The present buyer’s market obscures a key fact about the housing crisis though: millions sought the refuge of cheap credit, subprime and adjustable loans during the boom because they were the easiest routes to homeownership in a time when house prices far outpaced income growth. The sad fact is that the Great American Dream is still out of reach for far too many, and it was the declining affordability of decent houses that was one of the triggers of the housing bust. It’s not that home prices haven’t plummeted as banks unload foreclosed homes at fire-sale prices. The national median home price fell to $169,000 in the first quarter, according to the National As- sociation of Realtors. Bank-owned properties are selling at 20 to 50 percent discounts. “Contrary to popular belief,” says Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Center for Housing Policy, “the recent decline in home prices has not resolved the nation’s (see page 4 ) The Housing Journal 2| Summer 2009 The Housing Journal Summer 2009 EDITORIAL AND DISTRIBUTION Linda Cloud, Joan Edwards, Andrea Illig, Gina Miserendino, Tina Riley, Ken Smith CONTRIBUTORS Khalil Bendib, Ted Keller, Gina Miserendino, Bill Roupp, Ken Smith, Peter Victor, John Wasik BOARD OF DIRECTORS Augusto Cordova, Karen Curtis, Lorraine deMeurisse (President), Helen Drayton, Leslie Holland (Treasurer), Patricia Kelleher, Dorothy Medeiros, Joe Myer, Veronica Oliver (Secretary), Ray Paylor, Sandy Spence (Vice President), Susan Starrett, Van Temple, Amy Walls, Serena Williams The Housing Journal is published quarterly by the membership of the Delaware Housing Coalition to promote thought, discussion and action on housing issues. Readers’ contributions of all forms are warmly encouraged. The MISSION of the Delaware Housing Coalition is to advocate for safe, decent and affordable housing throughout the state. Our goal is to affect, impact and shape the environment relating to housing. We are committed to fostering the growth and long-term flourishing of grass roots constituencies which develop their power; nurture their own problem-solvers and leaders; and work together to change the conditions which prevent them from obtaining safe, decent and affordable housing. DHC is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Our United Way (Delaware) nonmember designated giving number is 09294. The Delaware Housing Coalition, PO Box 1633, Dover, DE 19903-1633 Phone: 302/678-2286; Fax: 302/678-8645 www.housingforall.org Email: dhc@housingforall.org Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware? 2009 Summary Housing Burden There are 61,215 households in the state with incomes at or below half of the area median. 22,541 of these households are severely cost-burdened, paying 50% or more of their income for housing. 15,540 of these severely cost-burdened households have incomes at or below 30% of the area median. There is a deficit of 20,444 units statewide that needs to be filled in order to house these households affordably. When a “fair share” measure for very low-income households is applied to the state’s census tract districts, every census district in the state – except for the City of Wilmington – is found to have a deficit of affordable housing. There are almost 28,000 extremely low-income households in Delaware — 13,422 in rental units and 14,414 in owner-occupied units — in need of affordable housing due to cost burden. 25,000 very low-income families pay 30% or more of their income for housing costs or are on waiting lists for assisted housing. Homelessness 1,479 Delawareans were identified as homeless in the January 2009 Point in Time survey, with nearly 7,000 state residents experiencing homelessness during the year. A disabled person dependent on SSI cannot afford an efficiency (zero-bedroom) apartment anywhere in the state. The efficiency apartment housing wage stands at $13.43 for Dela- This issue of the Housing Journal is supported by the Administrative Commission on the Speer Trust (New Castle Presbytery), the Bank of America Foundation, and the membership of the Delaware Housing Coalition. DAY FOR HOUSING: DHC Member Tina Riley and DHC Board Member Susan Starrett at the registration desk. ware, 188% of the state minimum wage, an annual salary of $27,934. Delaware needs 648 new supportive housing units, along with 1,000 new rental subsidies in order to house the 2,000 individuals who are most in need and most at risk of homelessness. Renters The Fair Market Rent for a twobedroom apartment ranges from a low of $714 in Sussex County to $774 in Kent County to a high of $1005 in New Castle–an increase of as much as 20% since 2004. A worker in Delaware must earn $17.75 per hour–or $36,917 annually–to afford an average twobedroom apartment. 46% of all workers in New Castle, 45% in Sussex and 63% in Kent can not afford a two-bedroom apartment in their county of employment. Delaware has 4,604 project-based Section 8, Low Income Tax Credits, or Rural Development units that could lose subsidy or affordability restrictions between 20082012. Homeownership In late 2008, the median purchase price for a house in Delaware ranged from $206,000 in Sussex County to $230,000 in New Castle. House price increases since 2000 range from 51% in Sussex County to 81% in Kent. Median household income in Delaware ranges from $58,600 in Sussex County to $77,800 in New Castle. The state’s homeownership rate is 76%. However, only 41% of Hispanic families own their own homes. African Americans have a 50% home ownership rate. Incomes 15% of Delawareans (131,000) live below the poverty level which in 2009 is $22,050 for a family of four. Five of the six top growth occupations in Delaware do not pay a median wage adequate to buy a house in the state nor rent a 2 bedroom FMR in New Castle County. 227,000 DE workers have median wages below that needed to rent a two-bedroom FMR apartment in their county.c www.housingforall.org Delaware Housing Coalition |3 Day for Housing 2009 Dr. James Kushner Affordable Housing in a Time of Climate Change CHANDLER HEIGHTS I 2 CHANDLER STREET SEAFORD, DE 19973 Chandler Heights I is a multi-family apartment complex which consisted of 91 low-income rental apartments. Chandler Heights I was established in 1969 by Better Homes of Seaford, Inc. (BHS) and was constructed with HUD funding with initial rent up in 1972. There were 12 apartment buildings with office space in one apartment building. In 2004, after 32 years of service, it was time to upgrade and renovate in order to preserve housing for future generations. Low income housing tax credits, BHS accumulated equity, with mortgages with the Delaware State Housing and Delaware Community Investment Company were obtained for funding for the renovation. Three of the apartment units were eliminated to make room for a community building which consist of office and storage space, a community room, a kitchen, a conference room, a computer learning center, a library and a laundry room. All of the apartment buildings received a complete renovation including new interior walls, new insulation, new electrical wiring , all new plumbing, new floors, new windows, new doors, new kitchens, new bathrooms, adding central air and carpeting. All ground floor apartments were made handicap accessible. Security was enhanced by adding security cameras and key pad operated doors to common area hallways. Covered porches with railings and ramps were added to all buildings. The apartments are fully rented and there is an ongoing wait list. In 2007 Chandler Heights I received the Charles L. Edison Tax Credit Excellence Award, a national competition 2nd place award for rural development. The award was presented by Senator Tom Carper in Washington, D.C.c 1. Limit house sizes: tax buildings or dwellings that exceed 400 square feet per occupant 2. mandate use of green building codes; tax non-green development 3. Reuse existing structures 4. Plant shade trees 5. Permit parking no closer than the closest transit stop 6. Permit only new development that is either car-free, traffic free, or traffic reduced 7. Dedicated transit corridors 8. Implement congestion pricing 9. Raise parking meter fees 10. Set maximum parking limits 11. Create walkable communities 12. Build pedestrian trails 13. Dedicated paths for bicycles 14. Limit all urbanization to within 1 - 2 miles of a station or stop 15. Narrow the streets in commercial and residential areas and reduce speed limit to 15 mph 16. Reduce available parking incrementally each year 17. Close selected streets incrementally each year 18. Subsidize electric bicycles for light-rail and bus riders to travel between their homes and the station to avoid the need for parkand-ride lots.c DAY FOR HOUSING: DHC Members Tracey Harvey and Denise Freeman IN THIS ISSUE: Front Bigger Isn’t Better Homes Still Cost Too Much Food Security, Land Use, and Housing Two Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware? Three Chandler Heights - Why Not In My Back Yard? Affordable Housing and Climate Change Five Presbytery Statement on Communities Six Minquadale Village Owns Their Land Back What Do We Mean by “FAIR SHARE”? The Housing Journal 4| Homes Still Cost Too Much (from page 1 ) housing-affordability problem.” Homes cost too much even before the bubble, so homebuyers were willing to do anything to get into the domicile of their dreams. After all, homeownership is an American birthright, or at least that promise was sold to Americans starting in 1946. “Buy as much house as you can afford!” That’s what the bankers and real estate agents were telling us for generations because of generous tax breaks and easy, often government-guaranteed financing. Unfortunately, the cost of land, homebuilding, taxes and homeownership far exceed what millions of households are able to cover with nearly stagnant personal income growth in this century. Inflation simply ate away at wages that just weren’t enough to pay ever-rising bills for property taxes, maintenance, health care, education and energy. Even at the height of the boom, researchers at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that almost 18 million homeowners were paying more than half of their incomes for housing (about onethird is considered reasonable). They were also hit hard by rising energy costs, which rose twice as fast as total spending from 2004 to 2006. That wasn’t always the best advice. The Harvard group last year found that “nowhere in America does a full-time minimum wage job cover the cost of a modest two-bedroom rental at 30 percent of income.” Those stranded in the low-wage service economy, left behind by the technological revolution of the 1990s, could barely afford to rent a decent place in most cities, much less buy. Those families who are paying more than half of their budget for housing have little to nothing left over for health care, food, clothing and education. That hurts more than 14 million children living in low-income households, whose families had less than $600 per month on average for other essential expenses. So was anyone surprised when brokers and subprime lenders targeted minority and low-to-middle-income neighborhoods then walked away when they sold trillions of these mortgages to Wall Street and the largest banks? They were selling the American Dream! From sparkling new suburbs in the Sun Belt to inner cities, cheap money and neutron-bomb adjustable loans meant nobody had to be house poor -- at least for a year or two. Then the explosion hit, and we’re still feeling the aftershocks. Further exacerbating the affordability crisis was the tendency for municipalities to favor upscale, sprawling home developments over middle- and low-income housing. Since home values are directly fueling property-tax income in most places, nearly every community can get more money for schools and public services. When you base property-tax revenue on home valuations, bigger price tags translate into better-equipped schools, fire stations and libraries. Yet, building McMansion subdivisions only inflated the housing bubble and reduced the stock of affordable homes. From 2002 to 2005, home prices soared 45 percent in areas restricted to upscale building versus 24 percent in unrestricted areas. Moreover, by creating these “spurbs” -- sprawling John F. Wasik http://www.johnwasik.com, author of Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream, is a personal-finance columnist for Bloomberg News and the author of several books. His most recent book, The Merchant of Power, was praised by Studs Terkel and well-reviewed by the New York Times. Wasik has won more than 15 awards for consumer journalism, including the 2008 Lisagor and several from the National Press Club. This article is based on reearch in Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream (Bloomberg Press, 2009) and originally appeared on the AlterNet, online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/140744/ Summer 2009 urban areas unconnected to transportation and city centers except by endless highways –- homeowners’ costs rose to catch up with needed infrastructure, schools and other public services. The housing crisis has given us a rare opportunity to re-evaluate and reinvent the American Dream. As I note in my new book, /The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome/, if we’re to increase the homeownership rate, government will have to create incentives to build more affordable housing. We’ll also have to find a way to delink property taxes from funding local services to reduce the number of overpriced homes in a handful of areas. Perhaps even eliminating tax breaks for mortgage interest would keep prices at realistic levels, because you wouldn’t be subsidizing ever-larger mortgages. Ultimately, though, the American home and community will have to be reinvented. Houses will need to be ultra-energy efficient to reduce long-term ownership costs and even produce their own energy. This can be done with factorybuilt, green homes. Then we’ll have to build – or rebuild – high-density, walkable communities that are close to jobs and retail outlets. This is already happening throughout the U.S., although building and zoning codes need to change to allow this to happen on a large scale. Even more federal incentives are needed for green building. We have just experienced a great teaching moment in history. The American Dream as we know it was not sustainable. Now we have the chance to make it affordable, ecologically sound and socially beneficial. It’s a rare opportunity.c Bigger Isn’t Beer (from page 1 ) cial sector followed quickly by a recession that through globalization, spread further and faster than swine flu. Now governments are congratulating themselves for acting together to stimulate spending to get the economies back on course, much as Keynes might have recommended. But times have changed since his day. World population has increased almost three times, world economic output has increased ten times and with this massive expansion of the human presence on earth, we are confronting limits to the availability of cheap energy, to fresh water, and to the capacity of the atmosphere to absorb increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. At the same time we are destroying the habitat of numerous species of flora and fauna and the security of our own food supplies is threatened. It is time to rethink the old idea that the solution to all our problems lies in the incessant expansion of the economy. Rich countries like Canada should explore alternatives, especially if poorer countries are to benefit from economic growth for a while in a world increasingly constrained by biophysical limits. Some deny or simply ignore these limits and argue that economic growth in rich countries is necessary to stimulate growth in poorer ones. Others say that with ‘green’ growth we can expand economic output as we reduce the demands we place on nature through more efficient production, better designed products, fewer goods and more services, compact urban forms, and organic agriculture. While these measures may well help in a transition they are an unlikely prescription for the long term. What is required is a radical rethinking of our economies and their relation to the natural world. Although no 21st century Keynes has emerged to prepare the intellectual ground for such a change in thinking, we do have a body of knowledge built up over many decades and now thriving under the name of ‘ecological economics’. Ecological economists understand economies to be subsystems of the earth ecosystem, sustained by a flow of materials and energy from and back to the larger system in which they are embedded. It is understandable that when these flows were small relative to the www.housingforall.org earth they could be ignored, as they have been in much of mainstream economics. Economists are not alone in treating the economy as a self-contained, free standing system largely independent of its environmental setting. It is a widely held view that environmental protection is just one among multiple competing interests to be traded off against the economy. And anyway, this mainstream perspective teaches that if resource and environmental constraints are encountered, scarcities will be signalled by increases in prices that will induce a variety of beneficial changes in behaviour and technology. Should this system of scarcity, price, response fail then economists can estimate ‘shadow’ prices which can be imposed directly through taxes or used indirectly through policies based on cost-benefit analysis to fix the problem. To ecological economists, this is an inadequate response to the myriad problems of resource depletion, environmental contamination and habitat destruction confronting humanity in the 21st century. They question the pursuit of endless economic growth and contemplate a very different kind of future. In my own work, I have examined whether and under what conditions a country like Canada could have full employment, no poverty, much reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and maintain fiscal balance, without relying on economic growth. Using a comparatively simple model of the Canadian economy I have explored scenarios in which these objectives are met. The ingredients for success include a shorter work year to reduce unemployment yet retain the advantages of technological progress, a carbon price to discourage greenhouse gas emissions, and more generous anti-poverty programs. In such an economy, success would not be judged by the rate of economic growth but by more meaningful measures of personal and community well-being. We would adjust to strict limits on our use of materials, energy, land and waste, guided by prices that pro- Delaware Housing Coalition vide more accurate information about real rather than contrived scarcities. We would enjoy more services and fewer but more durable and repairable products, and we would value use over status when deciding what to buy. Rampant consumerism would be history, advertising would be more informative and less persuasive, and new technologies would be better screened to avoid problems to be fixed later, if at all. Infrastructure, buildings and equipment would be more efficient in their use of energy and we would think and act more locally and less globally. With more free time at our disposal we would educate ourselves and our children for life not just work. Is all this simply wishful thinking of a sort that flourishes in troubled times? I think not. The undercurrent of discontent with modern life is rich with ideas for a better future, one that is not dependent on economic growth. For example, in March of this year the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission delivered its report ‘Prosperity without Growth?’ to the British Government endorsing and amplifying many of the ideas expressed here. The Centre for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy based in the USA has obtained over 3000 signatures on its position statement designed to help change the goal of the economy from growth to sustainability. At the local level, Transition Towns has spread in less than four years from the UK to many countries including Canada, to raise awareness of sustainable living and to build local resilience in response to the combined threats of peak oil and climate change. Even mainstream economists are moving with the tide. Nobel Laureate economist Robert Solow said last year: “It is possible that the US and Europe will find that…either continued growth will be too destructive to the environment and they are too dependent on scarce natural resources, or that they would rather use increasing productivity in the form of leisure.” Let’s add Canada to the list and go from there.c Economist Peter A. Victor is Professor in Environmental Studies at York University and author of Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008). “Bigger Isn’t Better” first appeared in the Ottawa Citizen (ottawacitizen.com) and then was reprinted in the electronic newsletter of the E. F. Schumacher Society (smallisbeautiful.org). |5 From Homelessness to Hope: Constructing Just, Sustainable Communities for All God’s People I n June 2008, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) “affirm[ed] the complexity of issues surrounding homelessness and the need for a holistic approach that (1) addresses ministry to those experiencing or risk of homelessness and (2) the structural components necessary for a comprehensive solution.” Principles affirmed as foundation to faithful ministry with persons who are homeless include: universal access to safe, decent, accessible, affordable, permanent housing is a measure of a just society, The church is called the create communities of hospitality, The church is called to create sustainable communities where people can be securely housed, The church is called the challenge society to provide safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing for all persons who cannot secure such housing through their own means. The Assembly encouraged congregations, presbyteries, synods, and other church-related entities to pursue comprehensive responses to the crisis of homelessness and affordable housing, including providing the physical space and the spiritual openness to address the problem, including: Shelters, transitional housing, mixed income communities, and other affordable housing and links to service providers The impact of employment practices, including sustainable wages and benefits, employment of youth and adults reentering the workforce after being homeless or institutionalized Links with local, regional, and national coalitions that advocate for worker justice, green design in homes, and affordable housing Supporting residents in public housing in their efforts to organize and have a voice in their communities Application of stewardship strategies in the area of homelessness, such as allocating physical space for services and tithing capital campaign proceeds The Assembly affirmed ...public policy recommendations in four categories: Housing and Services: preservation of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program; restoration and expansion of Project-based Section 8, including revitalization of 2.5 million units; development of housing trust funds at the municipal, state and national levels; enactment of inclusionary zoning policies and other strategies to achieve mixed-income communities; and improved enforcement of existing nondiscrimination laws with regard to housing and home financing. Services for Persons Experiencing Homelessness or at Risk of Homelessness: revision of municipal zoning codes to include temporary housing and to prohibit discrimination based on housing status; increased funding for the federal departments that serve the homeless, including the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and the Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs; expansion of adequate funding for supportive housing (housing plus services); increased investment in the McKinney-Vento Act Homeless Assistance programs; and continued investment in several programs that help low-income people obtain and stay in housing. Lending Practices: development of foreclosure prevention strategies and programs to benefit households at risk; and restrictions on predatory and abusive lending practices. Taxation: support fiscally responsible federal budget priorities and adequate revenues to ensure longterm funding for the programs outlined above; tax incentives that encourage “smart growth;” more equitable distribution of tax benefits for those at lower income levels, including expansion of the EITC and CTC to more low-income people, and the development of a refundable tax credit targeted to low-income renters.c from Loaves & Fishes, September 2008, www.meetingground.org 6| The Housing Journal Minquadale Village Owns Their Land S aturday, July 18 was the birthday of Nelson Mandela. It also marked the celebration and culmination of a truly significant and long-term piece of affordable housing advocacy. The residents of Minquadale Village manufactured home community have bought the land beneath their homes and will henceforth operate and govern their community cooperatively. The community has been transformed from an investor-owned community (IOC) to a resident owned community (ROC). Instead of a land rent, they will be paying into a fund to satisfy the new mortgage on their own land. Their monthly bill is staying the same, $420 a month, and could go down with the addtion of new homeowners. Collectively, they will be in charge of property maintenance, legal and financial matters, new homeowner selection, community rules, and all other aspects of the community’s operation and future. With the help of an extended network of affordable housing professionals and the passage of a new state law, a resident right-of-firstoffer law, the residents bought their community from the previous owner, their long-time landlord, for $1.9 million. Minquadale Village is the first manufactured housing community in Delaware to make use of this law. President Ken Shaw thanked a number of people, on behalf of all the residents, including legislators who had helped to get the law passed. Representatives Valerie Longhurst and Pete Schwartzkopf, along with Representative J.J. Johnson, who represents the community, all congratulated the residents and the advocacy network which made the day possible. Absent but warmly thanked, as well, were former Representative Bob Valihura and Senator George Bunting. Chris White of Community Legal Aid, Andrea Levere of CFED, Brian Keenan and Keith Timko of READS, Paul Bradley of New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Cheryl Sessions of ROC USA, and Dawn Poczynek-Hold- ridge of FannieMae were among the happy team of technical assistance providers and support network members participating in the event. Also present were members of DMHOA, the Delaware Manufactured Home Owners Association, the group which has been most interested in, and most responsible for, the establishment of the right-of-first-offer law: Ed Speraw, DMHOA President, Fred Neil, and Bobbie Hemmerich. Resident-owned communities (ROCs) exist in other states, especially New Hamlpshire, where their number is above 80. The model has been so successful there that the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund has created a national program, ROC USA, which is taking the model to other states. The right-of-first-offer law passed in the 2008 legislative session after a long struggle in which all the groups so far mentioned were deeply involved. Representative Valerie Longhurst chaired the Manufactured Housing Committee and authored the bill. Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn, among others who addressed the residents, congratulated the community, DMHOA, and their allies. “You had no riches, no inherited power, but you petitioned your government. You did it. You pulled it off.” he said. Representative Schwartzkopf and Paul Bradley of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund both pointed out that the road ahead would not be easy and to expect internal challenges, as well as external ones. “Hang together,” Bradley told them. Another group involved in the network which brought this about was NCALL Loan Fund. Karen Kollias and David Callahan of the local CDFI helped to bring a second loan to the deal which made it possible. The quest for greater security of tenure for manufactured home owners, for treatment of their homes as real property rather than ‘chattel’, and for fair and equitable lending practices on those homes has been a critical and elusive concern in Delaware. The most recent surge of advocacy began with the birth of DMHOA and with the convening of statewide meetings on manufactured housing as an affordable housing option. These meetings were convened by Terri Hasson of Citigroup and Lorraine deMeurisse of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware. Minquadale Village ROC has been the work of many hands, a true colloboration in which many in Delaware have come together to create new opportunities for those precariously housed. It was a truly land mark occasion.c Summer 2009 Food Security, Land (from page 1) food through public transportation as well as inter urban area transportation like trucking and rail shipment. Warehousing of food including ensuring an emergency supply is another factor. Access to supermarkets, food programs, etc. is also a topic. Food handling and safety come under the use category. Food Recycling includes food gleaning and food banking; his last category includes waste stream issues such as composting and waste stream reduction efforts. Patricia Allen (Allen, 1993) also illustrates the point of interconnectedness: “Agriculture does not exist and cannot function except at the intersection of society and nature.” Delaware’s Food Security A disturbing finding in a 1997 review of Delaware’s food insecurity status was the loss of farmland despite the implementation of an agricultural lands conservation program. According to the Delaware Department of Agriculture the state lost 384,000 acres of farmland between 1950 and 2005 — much of it to scattered, lowdensity development, commonly referred to as sprawl. The good news is from the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation (5/09) that the preservation program has saved 152,603 acres on 1,023 farms and 2,131 acres of forestland on 22 properties. The American Farmland Trust www.housingforall.org nd Use, and Housing praises this program as...striking a balance between two important goals: preserving a critical mass of crop and forestland and open space to sustain Delaware’s number one industry and quality of life, and providing land owners an opportunity to preserve their land in the face of increasing development pressures and decreasing commodity values. Land Use Policy Tools The American Farmland Trust’s motto No Farms No Food succinctly states that land use and community food security issues are tightly intertwined. As Americans memory-- and subsequently its appreciation -- of the land/food connection fades, there is an urgent need to reinstate this core understanding. This may ensure that land necessary and desirable for production remains available in large tracts of farmland, mid-sized pieces for smaller scale production, small urban garden plots, and even rooftop growing. Land Use: Just as knowledge has been gained of the connection between land use and health, such as suburban environments discouraging walking or bicycling, land use regulations are under examination as to how they encourage or discourage the way food is produced, distributed and consumed. Too often food system considerations are overlooked or uncoordinated during local planning processes especially with regard to the impact of food security on lower-resourced neighborhoods. Poor policies can lead to loss of farmland, discourage grocery stores to locate in underserved areas, or allow for concentration of fast food outlets. Alternately good coordination can encourage family farmers to stay on their land, create jobs, support the economy, and ensure that everyone has access to quality food. Land use regulation can be used as a tool for change in the areas of land use, open space planning, housing, transportation/ circulation conservation, noise, safety, and jobs and economic development. Zoning: Zoning is also an important tool; through good planning and public hearing opportunities, Delaware Housing Coalition zoning can be amended to attract desired—and restrict less desired— land use to promote communitybased systems. (Bournhonesque, et al., 2007) The Delaware Department of Agriculture gives guidance for the County Land Comprehensive Planning Guidelines affirming Dahlberg’s and Allen’s premise that agriculture is integrated on many levels to other land use/life functions. It suggests that all Delaware counties “1) Recognize that the County is a Part of a Greater Regional Agricultural Community and 2) Develop and Incorporate Goals and Objectives in Support of the Agricultural [Community].” A local, prime example of the critical importance of the need for good planning was recently illustrated by Dr. Bill McGowan, Sussex County Extension Educator, at a Heart and Soul of Sussex community meeting, part of the University of Delaware’s Coastal Community Enhancement Initiative. Using the current comprehensive land use plan of the AR-1 base zoning of two units to one acre with some cluster zoning of four units to one acre, McGowan projected as many as 850,000 residential housing units are possible with 500,000 buildable acres remaining in the county. Although this scenario would take many years to reach, it is possible without revision of the current Sussex County Comprehensive Plan. (MacArthur, 6/29/09). Food Policy Councils: Another mechanism that has been successfully used in various parts of the country to address comprehensive community food security is the food policy council. Composed of multidisciplined members ranging from urban planners to nutritionists, food policy councils have been created in part to address the challenges in understanding local food systems and educating the public and policymakers with regard to the importance of the food systems. Food policy councils embrace the philosophy that in order to reach their food security goals, a multidimensional, multilevel approach is necessary (Ashman et al., 1993). Food and Housing Security There are tools available to ensure both security of tenure and security of access to quality food and both are rooted in good land use planning. For example, by adding a food security impact requirement to development plans, this vital component would be reinstated back with other planning basics. The town/community center concept highlights mutually supportive, mixed uses with cluster developments allowing for open land or other alternative-to-sprawl options. This, as part of deliberate smart growth and equitable growth policies would help ensure access to public transit and communities of high opportunity can help brake the current momentum toward sprawl and infrastructuredevoid development. Affordable housing and access to food are infrastructure! This has been recognized by the state of Vermont in the creation of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. VHCB is an independent, statesupported agency which works through the provision of grants, loans, and technical assistance for the development of perpetually affordable housing and conservation of important agricultural and recreational lands, natural areas and historic properties. In Sussex County, the New Horizons Cooperative and Diamond State CLT are working on an innovative development which will provide permanently affordable housing through new, high quality manufactured and modular housing installed on permanent foundations on community land trust land. The homes will be part of a well thought out community featuring facilities such as a community room, recreation areas, open space, and a one acre community garden which the members will work cooperatively. The UD Cooperative Extension has provided technical assistance for the agriculture component. Variations of this Delaware example of integrating food security into housing development are being implemented elsewhere. Farms are being included in addition to other amenities such as pedestrian and cycling trails in at least 200 planned developments throughout the country. The assigning of farmland, sometimes operated as community supported organic agriculture (CSA), is occurring after open spaces have been designated (Appelbaum, 7/1/09). Conclusion It is clear that overall appropriate land use is essential for the growing of crops as well as other ac- |7 tivities related to processing and distributing food. As a society we have progressed from the knowledge that food is a basic necessity for sustenance of individuals to a more comprehensive understanding that food security is essential for community sustainability. This multifaceted, multilayered goal includes a broad range of interconnected land use issues. Delawareans have both responsibility and opportunity to ensure through democratic processes that farming is perpetuated, communities are protected, and that community food security is preserved for all.c Resources: Allen, Patricia (ed.) 1993. Food for the Future Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. American Farmland Trust http:// www. famland.org/programs/states/DE/default. asp Appelbaum, Alec 7/01/09. The New York Times, ‘Organic Farms as Subdivision Amenities’ Ashman, Linda, Jaime de la Vega, Marc Dohan, Andy Fisher, Rosa Hippler, and Billi Roman. 1993. Seeds of Change: Strategies for Food Security in the Inner City. Los Angeles: UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning). Bournhonesque, Fisher, Laurison Spring 2007. An Introduction to Land Use Planning for Food System Advocates, Community Food Security News Dahlberg, Kenneth 1993. ‘Regenerative Food Systems: Broadening the Scope and Agenda of Sustainability’, Chapter 3 in Food for the Future Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability, New York: John Wiley& Sons, Inc. Delaware Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation May 2009. Current Situation Report for May 12, 2009. http://dda.delaware.gov/aglands/forms/2009/051209_ CSR.pdf Delaware Department of Agriculture updated March 2008. County Comprehensive Land Plan Guidelines http://dda.delaware.gov/aglands/Indplan.shtml and http://dda.delaware.gov/aglands/forms/2007/reports/ TrasDevRgts?DEGrowthFiscal Summary Diamond State CLT, http://www.diamondstateclt.org/ Hamm, Michael, http://www.foodsecurity. org/views_cfs_faq.html International Conference on Nutrition, 1992, http://www.popline.org/ docs/1513/274733.html MacArthur, Ron 6/29/09. Cape Gazette University of Delaware Coastal Community Enhancement Initiative http://www. ccei.udel.edu/ Heart and Soul of Sussex http://www. heartandsoulofsussex.org Vermont Housing and Conservation Board http://www.vhcb.org/ Winnie, Mark Community Food Security Coalition Issue Brief America’s Farms Feed America’s Children http://www. foodsecurity.org/issue_brief_affac.htm 8| The Housing Journal Summer 2009 What Do We Mean by “FAIR SHARE”? T he Delaware Housing Coalition (DHC) has begun a project which we refer to as “Good Neighborhood.” It is a long-term campaign to address the need for affordable, accessible, inclusive communities in Delaware and, specifically, to ensure that Delaware’s affordable housing system focuses on creating housing opportunities for households with very low incomes (
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