One Wake coalition pushes Cary candidates to support ‘Penny for Housing’ plan

Candidates for Cary Town Council unanimously agreed Thursday to work to establish an affordable housing fund during a meeting with hundreds of people from over a dozen religious and nonprofit organizations.

ONE Wake, a nonpartisan coalition, organized the meeting to ask candidates in next year’s elections to respond to what many called an affordable housing crisis in Cary.

“What is clear is that long-time, low-income homeowners, especially African American homeowners, are increasingly forced to leave the town that they helped build over centuries,” said the Rev. Rose Cornelious, development director at Dorcas Ministries. “And what is also clear is that newer residents of Cary who help keep the town running struggle to afford rising rents and live in sometimes substandard housing.”

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cary provides emergency housing aid. However, associate rector Javier Almendarez-Bautista said the church has already supplied 10 times the amount of financial relief this year as it did in all of 2019.

According to Howard Manning, executive director of Dorcas Ministries, the town added about 20,000 essential jobs — health care workers, teachers and food and retail workers — since 2010 but lost 3,900 affordable housing units as rents increased.

As Cary residents get older, rising housing costs can prevent many from aging in place, Manning said. Almendarez-Bautista said two-thirds of senior renters spend over 30% of their income on housing, the level above which experts say households become cost-burdened.

According to Manning, members of the historic and predominantly African American Kingswood community can no longer afford property taxes.

“Every effort should be made to allow our long-time, low-income homeowners to age in place and keep their homes and their families so that their children and grandchildren can benefit from the generational wealth created by Cary’s growing success,” Manning said.

Penny for Housing plan

Religious and nonprofit leaders discussed ONE Wake’s Penny for Housing plan with the candidates Thursday night.

If enacted, this plan would dedicate a penny on the property tax rate in each annual operating budget, providing an initial $3.2 million for affordable housing and growing from there. The owner of a $300,000 home would pay $30 in taxes for the fund per year.

All candidates present supported the idea, which would provide a funding stream for the fund in the Cary Affordable Housing Plan the Town Council approved Tuesday night.

“The plan is great, but it could be just like a brand new Lamborghini,” Manning said. “Without fuel to move it forward, it could be just a pretty ornament on a shelf. Our proposal tonight is aimed at providing fuel for that plan.”

Manning noted cities and towns such as Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Asheville, Apex and Carrboro have similar, dedicated funding for affordable housing.

“I would think and would hope that Cary would want to designate these funds for affordable housing because we have always been a leader in the Triangle area, in the state and in our nation when it comes to the quality of life for all of us,” Manning said.

Cary voters will elect council members in District A and District C, as well as one at-large member, in the March 8, 2022, election.

Candidates for District C, Mary Insprucker, Amanda Murphy and Jack Smith, in addition to District A candidate Jennifer Robinson and At-Large candidate Carissa Johnson attended Thursday’s meeting.

Both Robinson and Smith, the only incumbent candidates present, expressed their pride in voting for the town’s affordable housing plan earlier in the week.

“Where we will invest immediately to help is in partnerships and land acquisition, because that’s where we can get the best value and that’s where we can maybe address in a more timely fashion alleviating some of this complex problem,” Smith said.

Murphy also suggested shifting money from less important budget items toward affordable housing.

Insprucker highlighted the importance of partnering with various groups on affordable housing.

“I have a lot of experience and skill to bring churches, corporations, communities and nonprofits —everybody — together to get to that finished goal that we’re all trying to [reach],” Insprucker said.

Johnson discussed working on other issues Cary faces in conjunction with affordable housing.

“We need to be adaptive and have a multi-pronged approach,” Johnson said. “I believe we can make great gains on environmentally friendly building and addressing mass transit and transportation issues while addressing the affordable housing challenges.”

Robinson emphasized prioritizing affordable and livable housing for seniors and for individuals like firefighters, police officers, teachers and health care workers. She suggested revisiting a project implemented in the early 2000s that issued low-interest loans to facilitate affordable homeownership.

Each candidate present committed to attending an event dedicated to hearing the concerns of those impacted by Cary’s lack of affordable housing before the early voting period for next March’s election.

Before the meeting ended, Cornelious issued a call to action to those present.

“We have to enter the competitive political arena of the spring budget process and make sure that this issue stays at the top of our town’s and our county’s priorities,” Cornelious said. “Our purpose is to build power — to make change in Wake County and Cary. Power is organized people acting consistently and persistently.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 2:55 PM.