Housing Alternatives

I know we have tons of unused home inventory. Empty and foreclosed. Foreclosed and still occupied because both the residents and the mortgage holders have no where to go. Still new homes are built because buyers go where they need to go and that is not always where the inventory is. 

Too, what a buyer needs in layout and features is not always available in existing housing stock. They need customized features: access for physical disabilities, wider doors for wheelchair access, single floor homes or multi story with elevator, specialized bathrooms to fit specific needs, number of bedrooms to accommodate the family’s size, etc. 

Now add the need for multi-generations. Either the kids are returning to the parents’ homestead, or parents are sharing living space at the kids’ home. Sometimes it is elderly aunts and uncles, or brothers and sisters with financial or health problems. Any way the issue is phrased, more flexible housing options are needed.

Another dimension to the problem: empty homes often cause blight to a neighborhood. What do we do with these homes? How do we sensibly absorb these properties in a way that respects the property and the neighborhood, yet provides housing opportunities to those with needs? 

Yet another dimension of the problem: economic dislocation of young and old populations caught between careers or at the end of a career. These are people who do not have adequate employment to cover housing costs for the family. The re-pricing of wages and benefits has pulled the rug out from under these families and their homes were repossessed. How can we hold these families together with dignity and nurture to find new opportunities for future success and self sufficiency? 

What about the citizens who have experienced major health problems and costs, lost their nest eggs, and their retirement benefits, and now face loss of homes? 

The problem outlined above is huge. It is not easily solved. Not by government, nor industries – banking, mortgage, construction, to name a few – nor by communities alone. Yet, strangely, it is the community that is most likely the entity best qualified to lead the way in solving the problem. They cannot do it alone; they will need support along the way from investors, government agencies, charities, churches and neighbors.  Here’s how I envision it:

·         Neighborhoods are organic. They rely on interactions of people living in close proximity to one another. Their lives interleave with one another in schooling, child rearing, dramas of illness and death, injury and career success, well-being and the many changes over time. They know each other. Their well-being matters, as does ours with them.

·         Communities are grids of neighborhoods interconnected organically. The neighborhoods come together to form church parishes, school attendance areas, and shopping patterns. Shared errands tie families together the same way as school classmates do; they bump into each other in the routine compartments of their lives. Our life boundaries change, shift and grow over the years. These define not only who I am, but who we are.

·         Homes define neighborhoods. Their aspirations, their accomplishments, their tastes, their people. Cute, neighborly, spacious, modest or grand.

·         Neighbors and communities know each other’s needs. We are not islands living separate lives, but living in modified communal collections throughout the village. We know when someone is sick and needs a visit or a casserole. We know when divorce has challenged the family with child care during the day when the only bread earner is out and about earning the bacon. We know who needs help and how to do that.

·         Housing is a core need for a family. We take it for granted during good times, and we have had unheralded good times for generations now. Current conditions belie that peace. Our communities and neighborhoods are in turmoil. We have work to do. 

Close knit communities have a lot going for them. They know themselves, their people, their needs, their potential and their resources. Pulling them all together will be easier for the community than for an outsider. 

Here’s how an action plan could come together. The components need to be identified.

1. Who are the stakeholders that can provide leadership?
1. Citizenry
2. Municipal governments
3. Local charities and service organizations
4. Churches
5. County and State programs
6. Federal programs
2. Who are the citizens in need? Categorize them broadly as target markets or groups
1. Single parent families
2. Low income/unemployed/underemployed
3. Elder retired/low fixed income
4. Other?
3. What housing stock is available?
1. Multiple family units
2. Apartment units
3. Condominium units
4. Single family units
4. Where is this housing stock located?
1. Block and street
2. Zones or areas
3. Proximity to target groups with needs?
5. How diverse is the housing stock by zone or area? (mixed use, large/small, etc.)
6. List household needs other than housing
1. Income
2. Child care
3. Adult day care
4. Tutoring/education
5. Other?

A leadership group needs to be identified to process all of the above. The possibilities and options for the future need to be brainstormed and listed. Choosing which options to pursue and in what priority order is an early step in organizing the program.

The next big step is studying the component parts of the problems and gathering information and expertise. As this work progresses the programmatic elements begin to take shape. Around each of those programs an organizing team needs to be recruited and asked to determine how and if the program can be organized and inaugurated.

As each program proposal takes substantive form, the leadership group needs to determine which programs should be created first, and which building blocks need to be acquired to make them all work together and be successful for the long term objectives.

Funding resources will need examination and research. Working partners interested in performing the work will need to be recruited. The research and study of the program elements outlined earlier will help in this stage of the work.

The end result hoped for? A community housing program that helps the community manage toward healthy outcomes for quality of life for its citizens, housing patterns, and diverse housing stock.

Affordable and self-sustaining housing is a core issue for healthy communities. How well are we managing this important aspect of community life in the America of 2012?

March 16, 2012