You Can’t Keep a Good Affordable Housing Message Down
This poster decries the high price of housing in Westminster, London. (Credit: Homes for Britain)
Working through executive and legislative channels isn’t the only way to advocate for people having a difficult time paying for apartments and single-family homes on low and moderate incomes. This week, the message that people are struggling to find affordable housing in cities was heard loud and clear, sometimes in pretty creative ways.
N.J. Supreme Court Leaves Affordable Housing Decisions to Trial Courts
After the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), a state agency, failed to establish affordable housing guidelines in a timely manner, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that lower courts would be deciding quotas for housing intended for low- and moderate-income residents in towns across the state.
After the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), a state agency, failed to establish affordable housing guidelines in a timely manner, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that lower courts would be deciding quotas for housing intended for low- and moderate-income residents in towns across the state.
As quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote that the ruling:
… will present an avenue for low- and moderate-income New Jersey citizens, and entities acting on their behalf, to challenge any municipality that is believed not to have developed a housing element and ordinances that bring the town into compliance with its fair share of regional present and prospective need for affordable housing.
This is seen as a political blow to Governor Chris Christie, who has been critical of both the court (which he has called too liberal) and COAH (which he has reined in during his administration). According to NJ.com, in 2010 he proposed abolishing the agency, saying the state should get “the hell out of the business of telling people how many units they’re supposed to have.”
In 90 days, municipalities will have 30 days to demonstrate their compliance with the Fair Housing Act of 1985, which codified affordable housing requirements and led to COAH. LaVecchia stated that the decision does not stop COAH from proposing new guidelines that would supersede the lower courts. The Supreme Court struck down their last proposal in September 2013 as noncompliant with the Fair Housing Act of 1985, and offered extensions. COAH has twice missed the deadline.
Housing Costs Get Posterized in Great Britain
A campaign by the housing advocacy group Homes for Britain is making the affordability crisis in the cities of London, Edinburgh, Bath, York and Oxford visible to public transportation riders.
A campaign by the housing advocacy group Homes for Britain is making the affordability crisis in the cities of London, Edinburgh, Bath, York and Oxford visible to public transportation riders.
The group has created posters to show the average costs per square foot in different neighborhoods. The one below, which hangs in the Westminster Tube station, shows that a property the size of a tube carriage (translation: subway car) would cost £618,375, or $657,073 U.S. at today’s exchange rate.
Coalition Asks NYC Mayor to “Slow It Down”
New York City housing advocates voiced their displeasure about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s lack of dialogue with them at a rally in front of City Hall this week. According to the New York Observer, a coalition of community groups called “Real Affordability for All” yelled “slow it down, slow it down” as de Blasio entered the building; he paused only to give them a quick wave.
New York City housing advocates voiced their displeasure about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s lack of dialogue with them at a rally in front of City Hall this week. According to the New York Observer, a coalition of community groups called “Real Affordability for All” yelled “slow it down, slow it down” as de Blasio entered the building; he paused only to give them a quick wave.
Their chant is a message to the Mayor to slow down his plans to rezone East New York, in Brooklyn. The Mayor has highlighted the neighborhood in his affordable housing strategy, but locals have strong concerns about escalating costs and land grabs. Prices for land in East New York nearly tripled in the first eight months of 2014.
“The city needs time to make a plan for affordable housing that doesn’t push our low-income residents from our neighborhoods,” Darma Diaz, a member of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, told the Observer. “In the seven months of ongoing interaction with City Planning and HPD [Housing Preservation and Development] we have heard that there is no plan to prevent displacement of current residents and businesses.”
The Equity Factor is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Alexis Stephens is Next City’s urban economics fellow. She’s written about housing, pop culture, global music subcultures, and more for publications like Shelterforce, Rolling Stone, SPIN, and MTV Iggy. She has a B.A. in urban studies from Barnard College and an M.S. in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
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