The Affordable Housing Action Alliance asked the City Council candidates their views on several housing questions. Here are their answers for District 14.
SHERI CARTER
Didn’t Answer
BRANDI GRAYSON
Describe what you see are the main housing problems in Madison.
The biggest housing problems related: there’s not enough housing that is affordable to our working class and poor residents, and there’s gentrification pushing long-time residents, especially residents of color, out. Madison needs to recognize that these issues both disproportionately affect our non-white residents. Additionally, a major barrier for fixing these problems is a desire to use the private market and tax credits. We should be directly building housing. That’s the only way we can guarantee true affordability, because some people can only afford a zero-cost housing option.
Give your opinion of the site for the new men’s shelter, which is proposed for the East Towne Mall area.
We need more shelters closer to downtown, where services are, but more shelters is more shelters. There are needs across the city and certainly there are needs near East Towne Mall for shelters. However, we shouldn’t let a shelter opening on the far east side let us sit on our laurels and not advocate for shelters in other regions, especially downtown.
Due to COVID, some residents without housing set up camp at McPike Park in Madison and had been staying there since last summer. The City of Madison is no longer allowing camping in that park and made the people staying there leave. Do you support this decision by the City of Madison? Please explain your position
No, until we truly provide housing we should let people camp. Banning things like camping before we give them real options on housing is unfair and inhumane – it’s just trying to make people disappear. We can have more strict policies on camp usage when our housing needs are truly met.
Please provide your opinion of AHAA’s housing agenda outlined in the attached flier. Below, write next to the corresponding number for each proposal whether you support it and give your reasons.
- Tenant right to counsel for evictions – 100%. It is not a fair legal battle between a usually wealthy landlord or property company and individual tenants. Fully funding legal resources is part of balancing this power imbalance.
- Support permanent affordability – I support this. Much like I mentioned earlier, we need to be investing in directly building housing that can be zero cost for the tenant. Any private market solution requiring for-profit organizations to address the need is going to fall short, because you can’t make a profit off everyone and you shouldn’t. Housing is a human right – that means someone with zero dollars still deserves a home.
- Incentivize good landlord behavior – Yes, right now landlords are motivated to do one thing: make money. We have to create other incentives as well to ensure good behavior.
- Support non-profit capacity building – As a CEO of a non-profit, Urban Triage that is expanding into homeless services I totally support this. Our organization’s involvement in becoming an entry point to services for segments of the unhoused population is because we see a need for support that centers non-white (especially Black) identities, and underrepresented identities within that umbrella, such as LGBTQ people. They often have a justified distrust of the traditional system. More representation in non-profits would help with this.
- New homeless services position – Yes, definitely support – we need more front line folks working directly with people on the ground.
- Start a social housing pilot – As mentioned before, I support municipality-financed housing 100%. Removing the profit motivator is the only way we ensure everyone is housed.
- Opportunity zone code of conduct – I support this. My district, D14, is heavily at risk of gentrification, with long-time residents being pushed out. It is also one of the most diverse neighborhoods and this threat of gentrification has huge racist ramifications. District 14 could be a jewel of Madison with non-white businesses and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds living together as long as we don’t let predatory developers take advantage.
