Dear Editor
As the leader of a team working tirelessly to achieve results, I would be remiss if I did not point to your editorial of August 12th, Program a short-term fix for a long-term problem, which is more like a blog than an editorial.
While I focus on transforming poor into better and viewing the glass half full instead of half empty, I am taken aback by the Gazette/Island Packet’s increasing negativity which mirrors the nation’s mood rather than providing positive insights and community leadership.
I understand the business necessity of sensational headlines that sell newspapers to generate advertising revenue, which keeps a news organization in business. But, the community deserves more from the opinion page.
Notwithstanding the nation’s financial woes, I am proud that our City Council — often in concert with the Town of Port Royal — has demonstrated the courage to move forward, to try new ways and, in most cases, raise the level of expectations while achieving measureable results. (Yes, we have made some mistakes, but as quickly as we realized them, we adjusted course.)
When we are trying to save the only industrially zoned property in Northern Beaufort County to leverage the asset with opportunities coming with the Joint Strike Fighter, you object.
When we join in partnership with Jasper County toward economic development initiatives, because we have seen their recent successes, you suggest we are acting impulsively.
And now when we partner with Port Royal and the Lowcountry Housing Trust, to address a long ignored challenge of affordable housing, you give us all the reasons the initiative will fail.
Having served on the Board of the SC Affordable Housing Coalition, I know the Trust produces huge results by leveraging public dollars, at a rate of up to ten to one, to solve housing challenges. No it is not a silver bullet. But it might just help a few families which is a vast improvement over previous investments toward affordable housing.
The Beaufort City Council and Redevelopment Commission are working on all fronts to create a brighter tomorrow based on centuries of experience.
As a major business leader, it would be nice if you harnessed knowledge, wisdom and facts to make positive suggestions rather than slam those who are trying.
Sincerely,
Billy Keyserling, Mayor of Beaufort
Gazette / Packet Editorial
___________________________________________
Program a short-term fix for a long-term problem
___________________________________________
Published Friday, August 12, 2011
Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.
The affordable problem is being addressed by the market. The recession has sent property values spiraling downward. The other problem is almost never the result of the price of a single commodity, although that’s implied by such “solutions” as artificially low interest rates, lax lending standards and government subsidies.
These remedies mask the underlying problems.
So it is with noble but errant intentions that the city inches toward a partnership with a nonprofit housing finance agency that says it can help provide affordable housing for Beaufort’s workforce.
By unanimous vote Tuesday, the City Council approved on first reading an ordinance that would allow the city to work with the Charleston-based Lowcountry Housing Trust, which provides loans to nonprofit and for-profit developers and governments. The money finances new homes, rehabilitating old ones and converting commercial buildings to residential use.
To be clear, these projects almost certainly will result in cheaper housing for a few, profit for some and warm feelings for anyone who believes good intentions always yield good results.
But they will not bring lower prices across the market or even permanent solutions to targeted areas.
One council member touted sprucing up blighted areas as a benefit. That is desirable, but it could increase the value of surrounding properties and — barring more government assistance to more people — put housing in that area further out of reach of the workforce.
The quaint but crumbling houses of Beaufort’s Northwest Quadrant — some occupied, some abandoned by their longtime owners — illustrate the limits of such programs.
Regulations help protect the neighborhood’s historic assets, but as a result, many of the neighborhood’s working-class residents can’t afford to renovate or fix their homes in the way the rules require. So they let their property slide into disrepair.
It’s not unusual for such properties to go to relatives who live elsewhere because there is no work for them in Beaufort. Neither is it unusual for such properties to continue to deteriorate.
In the short term, the projects could provide some real benefits and impart some real value in such areas. But the program will not provide the job or financial resources an owner will need in 15 years to replace the roof or a worn-out air conditioner in his subsidized home.
Moreover, no one should expect these projects to make housing affordable for a large number of working-class people.
Housing becomes affordable to the workforce when jobs are plentiful and the workforce has the wherewithal and incentive to accumulate its own capital. That aim is better served by careful re-examination of spending and taxation, rules and regulations and impediments to job creation
Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/08/12/1755069/program-a-short-term-fix-for-a.html#ixzz1UxxauHqe
Corrections to Gazette/Packet “facts
Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.
Affordable housing is not limited to homeownership.
Beaufort has residents who cannot afford to rent or own a safe, decent place to call home.
A renter must earn $17.06 an hour or $35,480 annually to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Beaufort.
Affordable housing is needed for the workforce who earns less than $35,480 annually. In Beaufort, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $887. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $2,957 monthly or $35,480 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, and this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $17.06.
Affordable housing is needed for a minimum wage earner who cannot work 94 hours per week.
In Beaufort, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.25. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 94 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, a household must include 2.4 minimum wage earner(s) working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.
Affordable housing is needed for seniors living on fixed social security payments of $674 monthly.
Monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for an individual are $674 in Beaufort. If SSI represents an individual’s sole source of income, $202 in monthly rent is affordable, while the FMR for a one-bedroom is $784.
Source: http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2010/data.cfm?get=on&=7517&state=SC
The affordable housing problem is being addressed by the market.
The current median priced home is still unaffordable to most vital members of our community – teachers, firefighters, policemen, paramedics, and service industry workers.
The general rule of thumb is that a household should purchase a home that is no more than 3 times the annual household salary.
Beaufort’s average list price is $346,565.
In order to afford this home, a household would have to earn approximately $115,521.67 per year.
Beaufort’s median sales price is $168,500.
In order to afford this home, a household would have to earn approximately $56,166.67 per year.
Source: http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Beaufort-South_Carolina/
Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.
The area median income for Beaufort is $59,800 which means that almost 50% of Beaufort residents cannot afford the median priced home of $168,500.
“Area Median Income” (AMI) shall mean the income point at which one half of the incomes in a designated area fall below and one half falls above. The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses the area median income to calculate household eligibility for a variety of housing programs. HUD estimates the median family income for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas and adjusts that amount for different family sizes so that family incomes may be expressed as a percentage of the area median income. For example, a family’s income may equal 80 percent of the area median income, a common maximum income level for participation in HUD programs. HUD periodically updates the area median income estimates.
Housing becomes affordable to the workforce when jobs are plentiful and the workforce has the wherewithal and incentive to accumulate its own capital.
Housing is affordable when the workforce is not spending more than 30% of their monthly income on housing costs.
Therefore, housing becomes affordable when there is either an increase in wages or an increase in the production of housing that is affordable to the workforce.
Housing is affordable when there is not a gap between the income workers earn and the housing available for workers to buy. No home is affordable to the unemployed.
In Beaufort County the unemployment rate went from 8.4 percent in May to 9.7 percent in June, a staggering 1.3% increase. While the county added some 100 jobs to payrolls it failed to keep pace with the workforce’s growth of 1,000 to hit 60,046 people.
