< Back to Positions
Affordable
Housing
The Catholic Public Policy Commission supports the creation of
a comprehensive plan to address the chronic need for affordable housing
across the state.
We cannot look the other way while our brothers and sisters subsist
in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and unsafe and unsanitary dwellings.
We can not watch the elderly live in fear of endless rent increases
and growing violence in what was once their safe neighborhoods. New
families are shut out of the American dream of home ownership when
rents are too high that it is impossible to save for down payments
on properties with skyrocketing prices. Each year the available supply
of public housing declines as neighborhoods deteriorate. Initiatives
to move the chronically mentally ill out of institutions are thwarted
by a lack of community housing, and while prisons are overcrowded,
the lack of halfway houses makes it a long step from the cellblock
to the street. Persons with disabilities become a source of anxiety
as parents wonder “what will happen to my child when I die?”
These problems are complex and we must seek a variety of solutions
to address the issues before us. We must take steps to preserve available
housing through greater neighborhood preservation and revitalization,
but we must also increase the production of affordable housing in
both urban and rural areas. The development of single room occupancies,
or SROs are a viable option for shelter in some areas, and should
be encouraged along with halfway houses and supportive living facilities.
Creative partnerships between not-for-profit developers, financial
institutions and governmental agencies should be created to take advantage
of existing housing development programs. Technical assistance to
faith based community development agencies across the state should
be made available. Tax relief programs for the elderly should be more
widely publicized. Home-buyer education programs and down payment
assistance could help first time home owners successfully move into
their own homes, and impact fees charged to developers of high dollar
value subdivisions could be used to establish a pool to fund low income
housing.
Decent, affordable housing is not a temporary problem. It is a large-scale
issue, and demands a large-scale response from our state’s leaders.
|
