Here’s Bradley Campbell’s answers, so we’re up to 6 of the 25 candidates that bothered to answer questions on affordable housing, tenants rights and homelessness. The rest of the answers are here.
I just saw Brenda’s post about this and wondered why mine were not included! It turns out, this all sat in my Draft folder!
Skyler – thank you for the opportunity. Please take care.
1. How would you rank the need for more affordable housing with other priorities/needs of the City/County?
There is a critical need for more affordable housing in the city. Progress is being made, but there are still gaps to fill when it comes to making sure everyone has an affordable place to live. Safe and steady housing is one of the primary factors that brings stability to people’s lives, enabling them to be better community members. The city faces many priorities, to be sure. But the bedrocks of ensuring people are able to be successful in their lives are housing and education.2. What strategies and incentives would you suggest to create more affordable housing? Also, please include what the roles should be for TIF, CDBG, and other funding sources.
Affordable housing encompasses a lot of things and types of housing. We need to think of incentives that will encourage all types of affordable housing to ensure there are options for people at every income level and every ability level. In the current climate, where the HUD budget is being proposed to be cut by 14%, the outlook is dim. The amount of federal funds the city has available to help incentivize affordable housing will decrease, and we are already seeing the markets react with tax credit investors renegotiating their deals for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. It will take creative effort by the city, county, and organizations and individuals committed to affordable housing to come up with innovative financing structures to make these developments work adn beyond that to looking to all of the tools at our disposal as a government, which may include zoning, planning and other tools.3. Supportive affordable housing developments play an important role in providing housing for people who had been living on the streets or in shelters. This saves money for our community by reducing the cost of services including shelter, crisis help, police services, emergency room use, and other homeless services. Where would you find funding to help pay for the operating expenses of supportive housing?
Ongoing operating costs for supportive housing is a critical need to be able to provide services to residents. Currently and in the past, there have been federal funds available to help with some of these costs. HOPWA, for example, provides the funds for a resident services coordinator in a housing development my wife is involved with. In the current political climate, however, we cannot count on these funds and need to be thinking of sustainable ways to fill the gap. An argument could be made that the funds the city saves on emergency services and other costs defrayed by services provided at housing developments could be re-directed to support those operational costs.4. What are your views on desegregating racial/income disparities across Madison by integrating affordable housing into more affluent or better-resourced neighborhoods/communities?
As a city we cannot have ghettos or enclaves continue. Our downtown must have room for anyone to live, not merely luxury apartments. Placing affordable housing, especially housing for those with the lowest income levels, creates concentrations of poverty that then increase other problems such as access to transit and education. Affordable housing must be located in all areas of the city, and done so with intentional planning to include employment, education, transit and service concerns.5. The numerous evictions in Dane County negatively impact our community and individual families. In your view, what role should the City/County play in addressing eviction prevention?
I think that individuals and families in precarious rental situations would benefit greatly by better knowing their rights and understanding the eviction process and ways to safeguard against eviction. The city and county could work to make this information more readily available, working better with organizations like our Tenant Resource Center. Many evictions are due to non-payment of rent, but there are resources available to help in these critical situations. For example, the county has an Emergency Assistance Grant to assist families who receive a 5-day notice for non-payment of rent and meet other criteria, but it is not a widely-known resource. Changes to landlord/tenant laws in recent years have taken away tenant protections and encumbered Madison’s ability to enforce its own tenant protection ordinances, so tenants can easily find themselves in a tough spot. That is why information and education is so important. It is also beneficial to educate landlords on the resources available to assist tenants. Madison has a lot of corporate landlords, but it also has a lot of individuals renting units (myself, for example). Most individuals renting homes in their own neighborhoods want their tenants to be successful – its good for that tenant, good for the neighborhood, and good for the community as a whole.6. What support should the city/county provide to insure a successful housing development at the county owned Messner property (1300 block of East Washington Avenue in Madison) and other such developments in the area?
Funding is coming from existing sources from local government – that is great support. The city should also be working to ensure that there are systems in place to ensure livability (transit, services, etc) as opposed to placing a development and walking away.7. Should the Community Development Authority and the Dane County Housing Authority play more active roles in financing and developing affordable housing? And if so, how would you get this to happen?
The CDA and DCHA play really important roles in providing housing options to community members, but the housing they offer is largely (if not entirely) Section 8 and public housing. These financing sources are limited in their abilities to develop affordable housing and the properties that are developed remain the management burden of the CDA and DCHA. However, that is not to say that the city is not actively involved in the financing and development of affordable housing. The city’s Community Development Division administers CDBG and HOME funds and the Affordable Housing Fund for the city of madison. It uses those resources to incentivize developers to pursue LIHTCs and develop affordable housing that aligns with the city’s plan. The CDD is in a unique position to be able to bring together the cacophony of resources necessary to make a workable financing package.8. More than 50% of Madison households live in rental housing. Should the city use its funding contracts to enhance tenant protections and reduce barriers to access housing, and if so, how?
The easy answer is “yes, of course!” To do so, the city would have to be very careful not run afoul of (1) requirements attached the funding (much of it federal) that it uses for affordable housing developments and (2) the recent state landlord/tenant laws that prohibit localities from enacting ordinances that enhance certain tenant rights. We must always protect those with less power (renters here) but we have to be very smart and deliberative about it.
