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Severe Housing Problems Work Group

Co-Leaders and Members

Co-Leaders:

Name Co-Leader Type Title Organization
Lea Henry Organization Director of Housing Equity Initiatives National Institute of Minority Economic Development
Patricia Macfoy Community Executive Director New Hope Community Development Group, Inc.
Josh Walker NCDHHS Housing Director NC Department of Health and Human Services

 

Work Group Members:

Name Title Organization
Melanie Ahlstrand-Osborne Broker Webb Realty Group
Antonio Blow Director of Student Services Greene County Schools
Patrice Brown Speaker and Life Transformation Coach Restoring Bodies and Minds LLC
Diannee Carden-Glenn Founder ekiM for Change
Ken Edminster Housing Administrator NC Department of Health and Human Services
David Glenn Housing Specalist Carolina Complete Health
Shoneca Kent Director of Housing Equity Programs National Institute of Minority Economic Development
Sue Lynn Ledford Executive Director Four Square Community Action
Stefanie Ledwell, BA Housing Resources Navigator Center for Housing and Community Studies
Louis Pasteur Alimbuko Mashengo Community Member  
Karon McKinney Housing Program Officer United Way of Forsyth County
Brian O’Donnell Policy & Research Analyst NC Housing Finance Agency
Bill Rowe Community Member  
Vantionette Savage President Family Childcare & Center Enrichment Foundation INC
Kelly Sewell Grant Manager Co-Chair, Policy and Advocacy Carolina Advocates for Climate, Health, and Equity
Stephen Sills, PhD Chief Impact Officer United Way of Forsyth County
Bettie Teasley Policy and Research NC Housing Finance Agency
Karen Wade Policy Director NC Department of Health and Human Services
Stephanie Williams Supportive Housing Director Alliance Health

 

 

Updated 3/21/2024

Priorities

2023-2024 Priorities:

  • Remove legal barriers, institute enabling legislation, and facilitate lending to promote Community Land Trusts and other shared equity models of homeownership
  • Support programs designed to increase home ownership for historically disenfranchised communities
  • Increase measures and funding to provide tenants with access to mediation, legal representation, and legal education to secure and protect housing
  • Simplify and expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs by affirmatively engaging low-income communities through targeted outreach to help families meet their energy needs

Priority Development Agenda

  • Support funding, loans, and other resources for housing providers in agricultural areas to improve safe and healthy home environments for migrant workers

Action Plan

The work group will break into small groups around the following priorities. Work group members are asked to consider  which small group they would like to join for action planning. 

  • Group 1:
    • Remove legal barriers, institute enabling legislation, and facilitate lending to promote Community Land Trusts and other shared equity models of homeownership
    • Support programs designed to increase home ownership for historically disenfranchised communities
  • Group 2 (2A):
    • Increase measures and funding to provide tenants with access to mediation, legal representation, and legal education to secure and protect housing
  • Group 3 (2B):
    • Simplify and expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs by affirmatively engaging low-income communities through targeted outreach to help families meet their energy needs

Meeting Schedule

2023-2024 Severe Housing Problems Work Group Meeting Schedule:

  • Monday, October 16, 2023, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
  • Monday, January 22, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm via Microsoft Teams
  • Monday, March 18, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm via Microsoft Teams
  • Monday, June 17, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm via Microsoft Teams

Meeting Notes

Monday, January 22, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Melanie Ahlstrand-Osborne, Patrice Brown, Diannee Carden-Glenn, Ken Edminster, Lea Henry, Shoneca Kent, Stefanie Ledwell, Pat Macfoy, Brian O’Donnell, Bill Rowe, Betty Vines, Josh Walker, Vantoinette Savage; Staff: Ashley Rink

  • Welcome and Agenda Overview
    • Lea Henry welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda.
    • The group welcomed Shoneca Kent, the new Director of Housing Equity Programs with the National Institute of Minority Economic Development, and Betty Vines, the new IDD Housing Specialist with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
  • Grounding and Level Setting
    • Define Affordable Housing: The group discussed the following regarding affordable housing:
    • Affordable housing can be as broad as housing being affordable at every income level.
    • Focusing on low to moderate income persons.
    • Using HUD and local government definition: housing that is no more than 30% of people that are 80% or less of area median income (AMI).
    • Including a spectrum of possible solutions and not limiting it to 80% or less of AMI.
    • Concern about people on social security, disability, between jobs, and at the minimum wage level of income.
    • Overlap of severe income issues and ways that overlap with health issues.
    • The group is focused primarily on housing problems for people at 50% or below of area median income and lack of housing across the state at those income levels.
    • At 50% AMI or below, there are limited opportunities for housing ownership and may relate to keeping people in their homes. There are difficulties to scaling efforts for homeownership.
  • Review Priorities: The priorities identified at the previous meeting were divided into three small groups to work on different aspects of the severe housing issues.
    • Group 1: Lea Henry
      • Remove legal barriers, institute enabling legislation, and facilitate lending to promote Community Land Trusts and other shared equity models of homeownership
      • Support programs designed to increase home ownership for historically disenfranchised communities
    • Group 2: Josh Walker
      • 2A. Increase measures and funding to provide tenants with access to mediation, legal representation, and legal education to secure and protect housing
      • 2B. Simplify and expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs by affirmatively engaging low-income communities through targeted outreach to help families meet their energy needs
    • Group 3: Pat Macfoy:
      • Support funding, loans, and other resources for housing providers in agricultural areas to improve safe and healthy home environments for migrant workers
  • Small Groups
    • Asks for Small Group:
      • The co-leaders shared they want to make good use of members’ expertise and time and have concrete outputs and outcomes this year.
      • The group could report progress and information in a policy paper at the end of the year that could be shared with the group and the Department of Health and Human Services about what was found and what the group recommends.
    • The group discussed the following as potential action steps (part of the “bucket list” of actions).
      • Group 1: Facilitating Homeownership- Remove legal barriers, institute enabling legislation, and facilitate lending to promote Community Land Trusts and other shared equity models of homeownership AND Support programs designed to increase home ownership for historically disenfranchised communities
        • Explore what are the homeownership mechanisms that would increase homeownership opportunities for low to moderate income people.
      • Group 2A: Tenant Issues- Increase measures and funding to provide tenants with access to mediation, legal representation, and legal education to secure and protect housing
        • Identify what resources are available and how people connect with those resources. (Fair housing 101 + money)
        • Engage Housing Finance Agency regarding what they have done with some of their properties with accessing fair housing and ways to expand that to North Carolina housing as a whole.
        • Review of fair housing across North Carolina, different measures that are in place, funding opportunities, and work could correlate with such as with the Healthy Opportunities Pilot.
      • Group 2B: Assistance Programs- Simplify and expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs by affirmatively engaging low-income communities through targeted outreach to help families meet their energy needs
        • Identify where the following programs live and how they are funded: Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs.
        • Create a comprehensive list of what assistance programs are available and are not available.
        • Identify opportunities to increase the number of approved contractors.
        • (Lea Henry would be happy to provide input.)
      • Group 3: Migrant Workers- Support funding, loans, and other resources for housing providers in agricultural areas to improve safe and healthy home environments for migrant workers
        • Understand and identify the largest problems and needs for migrant workers related to housing.
        • Find and engage others who specialize in farmworker/ migrant worker housing issues.
        • Identify someone to co-lead group 3 with Pat Macfoy.
        • Engage someone in public health that has worked in rural areas and with farmworkers. (The Center for Housing may be able to provide contacts.)
    • Next Steps and Closing
      • Work group members are asked to share which small priority group they would like to be involved in prior to the next meeting.
      • The next Severe Housing Problems Work Group will be on Monday, March 18, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm via Microsoft Teams.

Monday, October 16, 2023, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Ken Edminster, Lea Henry, Stefanie Ledwell, Pat Macfoy, Lindsay Rosenfeld, Bill Rowe, Stephen Sills, Josh Walker; Staff: Hannah McDiarmid

Notes:

  • The 2022-2023 priorities were:
    • Increase measures and funding to provide tenants with access to mediation, legal representation, and legal education to secure and protect housing
    • Remove legal barriers, institute enabling legislation, and facilitate lending to promote Community Land Trusts and other shared equity models of homeownership
    • Simplify and expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs, and other healthy homes and utility assistance programs by affirmatively engaging low-income communities through targeted outreach to help families meet their energy needs
    • Support funding, loans, and other resources for housing providers in agricultural areas to improve safe and healthy home environments for migrant workers
    • Support programs designed to increase home ownership for historically disenfranchised communities
  • Topics Discussed:
    • Add policy for seniors (affordable and aging in place), unhoused, supportive housing, reentry population, at-risk of homelessness, etc.
    • Broaden the definition of supportive housing services to encompass various forms of housing assistance, including preventative measures such as foreclosure assistance.
    • Focus on community land trusts was from measures to increase homeownership as an important component of achieving stable housing.
    • Influence on the 2022-2023 priorities was across the continuum of housing need. Prioritization should consider either increasing housing supply or stabilizing people who are housed so that they do not become unhoused, such as through mediation and upstream efforts.
    • Emphasize the importance of prioritizing policies that aim to stabilize individuals who already have housing, preventing them from becoming homeless. This includes affordability, offering support like foreclosure prevention and aging in place assistance, and legal resources to prevent evictions.
    • Recognize undocumented families and migrant workers as part of the vulnerable population.
  • There were no changes to the 2022-2023 priority areas.
  • Legal Aid, Housing Collaborative, AARP, Rural Center, ICCHP (Interagency Council on Coordinating Homeless Programs), and HUD were added to the list of potential partners to engage.
  • Next steps were to:
    • Schedule quarterly work group meetings.
    • Ask work group members to share if they are interested in serving as a subgroup leader for the priorities.
    • Ask work group members to share which subgroup they would like to be involved with.
    • Schedule small subgroup meetings as needed.

Readings/Listenings

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