NOTES FROM THE MEETING ON HOUSING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2 - Liz Seymour

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NOTES FROM THE MEETING ON HOUSING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Liz Seymour

(We'll be meeting again on Monday, February 9 after Food Not Bombs in
the Nussbaum Room of the Central Library)

The majority of the people at the meeting on Monday were homeless, had
been homeless at some time, or were facing homelessness.

A house or apartment on the low end of the rent scale in Greensboro is
$450/month but actual "affordable" housing for many people would be
more like between $165 and $300 a month. A lot of people remain
homeless—or move in and out of motels and rooming houses--simply
because they don't have the income to support a stable living
situation. Other barriers to finding housing:

• Not enough money for security deposits
• Not enough money for utility deposits
• Poor credit
• Criminal record
• Bad rental history
• Owing money to Section 8, utilities or public housing
• Waiting list for public housing
• Section 8 applications closed
• No ID

The group felt that there is a great need in Greensboro for affordable
transitional housing specifically for people who are coming out of
homelessness. The transitional housing that exists is focused on
particular populations—people in recovery, ex-offenders, etc.—and
generally has more programming and supervision than people felt they
needed. The consensus was that after being homeless for any
significant period of time it can take as much as three years to
rebuild one's life and save up money, but that doesn't need to happen
in the context of a structured program.

One solution that a lot of people liked was for three or four people
who already knew and trusted each other to live together and share the
cost of rent and utilities. Since a lot of the barriers to housing
would apply to a group as much as to an individual, one idea that
developed was for there to be some kind of non-profit property manager
group that would act as an intermediary between the household and the
landlord. The "property manager" would sign the lease, pay the
deposits, and would see that the property was kept in good condition.
The individuals living in the house would pay their share of the
expenses to the property manager (some might contribute in some other
way if they didn't have any income) and the property manager group
would pay the rent to the landlord. The property manager group could
also be available to help resolve disputes within the household,
connect people to resources in the community, and generally be a
"friend of the house".

Some questions:
• Are there churches in Greensboro that own houses and would be
willing to make them available at low cost or rent-free?
• Are there landlords who would be willing to work with a program
like this? If so, how would we find them?
• Would there be any way to work with condemned and foreclosed
properties?

NOTE:

After the meeting I spoke with Susan Crotts in the city's Housing
and Community Development Office. She said that according to current
zoning up to five unrelated people can live in a house together. She
also said the stimulus packages being considered in Congress will
likely include emergency assistance for people who are in danger of
losing their housing; this assistance might help people who are in a
shared house and can't make rent or can't pay their share of utilities
one month. There may also be other federal programs coming up aimed
at using foreclosed houses for the benefit of homeless people.

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