Housing advocates push for a penny

DURHAM -- A group of affordable-housing advocates will push city leaders to dedicate one penny of the property tax rate toward creating more homes for the poor.

A penny on Durham's current tax rate of 60.3 cents per $100 property valuation would total about $1.5 million. Under the proposal, city leaders could choose to find that money within the budget or raise the tax rate. A one-penny increase would tack on about $20 to the current $1,206 property tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 house.

Members of the Durham Affordable Housing Coalition and a variety of other grass-roots groups met Tuesday to discuss how they'll persuade the City Council -- and the public -- to go for it.

That money could provide 120 households a year with new homes, loans or home repairs, according to estimates from the housing coalition.

Needs are great in a city where more than 5,000 families live below the poverty line, according to 2005 Census data.

But whether the council in an election year is going to look favorably on a tax increase is a question.

"I would question whether there is the political will to do this," said Gene Cook, executive director of Rebuild Durham, Inc.

Council member Eugene Brown, who floated the penny-for-housing idea at a meeting earlier this month, said the council already could be facing a penny tax increase in the upcoming budget to help make debt payments on recent bond initiatives.

He said the federal funding used now to help people find adequate homes isn't enough, so he thinks the council should discuss the proposal seriously.

But he also said the city has some fence-mending to do with the public trust when it comes to housing efforts. He pointed to the Rolling Hills debacle, where the city gave $860,000 in an interest-free loan for 56 new homes. Fewer than a dozen were ever built, and the loan was never repaid.

"This is the sort of thing we need to avoid," Brown said Tuesday. "The public still has a taste of that. We have to demonstrate a capacity, if monies are increased, for handling it in an efficient and effective manner."

But council member Thomas Stith has said that should happen before any additional money is allocated. He noted that the city has spent about $10 million for housing issues during the past five years.

"I think we have plenty of money up here," Stith said at a recent council meeting. "The question becomes how are we spending those dollars."

The group that met Tuesday agreed to split into subcommittees to craft a more detailed proposal for how the $1.5 million should be doled out and to work on the sales pitch to the council and public.

They hope to bring a plan to the council in late May.

Jack Preiss, a developer who builds affordable houses, said one key selling point will be reminding Durham of prior commitments. The city has made plans to develop 150 housing units for very low income families over the next five years, among other initiatives.

"They signed onto this stuff," Preiss said. "Now we say, 'Are you serious or not?' "