There’s no question of the fact that homelessness is on the rise. When we think about the myriad of reasons, they are often systematic flaws. For we, caring individuals couldn’t fathom anybody rallying in favor of homelessness rather than against it.
While there are definitely flaws inside the structure, occasionally people we would never suspect show their true colors as well. They are our fellow community members. They are homeowners and landlords, business professionals and college graduates. Lately, more recognizable faces are joining a fight that is, ironically, against affordable housing and/or emergency shelter construction. Here, we will tell you their stories and explain how this way of thinking adversely affects us all.
1,000 Plus Residents Strongly Oppose the Construction of Crestwood Ridge Apartments in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Via Petition and Town Meetings
The Situation at a Glance
Cedar Rapids, currently Iowa’s second largest city, flails in the aftermath of a 31.12-foot flood, displacing over 18,000 residents and leaving hundreds more on housing assistance. In terms of sheer damage costs, Iowa’s storms of 2008 are widely considered the sixth largest FEMA disaster. To put things into perspective, the damages are listed just under Hurricanes Ike and Katrina. In response to tragedy, job loss, and mass displacement, CommonBond Communities presents the public with an affordable housing proposal to build a 45-unit housing complex.
Residential Reaction
This town that is already known for pitchforks (because it is the landmark of this famous painting) stages a full-on witch hunt against the complex and its residents.
Why It’s Particularly Heartbreaking
In this specific case, many of the people who would serve to benefit from the construction were once welcomed members of the community. Their only flaw was losing their homes and/or jobs in a storm. Among the displaced are 1,800 elementary school students wading against the troubled waters of a past they likely don’t remember. This isn’t just saying no to strangers. It is saying no to former neighbors and their tender-aged children. It’s saying no to community daycare centers and teddy bears. It’s writing off flood victims as “drug dealers” and calling their children unspeakable names at town hall meetings and then hiding behind flimsy excuses like claiming the structure is just too big.
Worst Opposition Quote
“If you like them so much, why don’t you live with them?”
The Outcome: Despite the petition, Crestwood Ridge Apartments opens with all 45 affordable housing units on Edgewood Rd. in the Cedar Rapids.
Affluent San Francisco Residents Crowdfund $60,000 to Thwart the Construction of a 200-Bed Shelter
The Situation at a Glance
San Francisco faces a homeless crisis so severe that experts claim the region needs $12.7 billion worth of funding to keep its people off the streets. Some of the wealthiest members in the area band together and begin raising funds. The tragic irony is that they’re raising funds to keep these homeless people on the streets and out of beds that would be constructed in their neighborhood.
Residential Reaction
Donations pour in and these wealthy residents are hungry for even more money. They claim they need at least $100,000 to get this legal battle against homeless shelter construction underway.
Why It’s Particularly Heartbreaking
The idea of giving rich people even more money while others suffer in tents on the side of the road is proof that we live in a fairytale land that’s somehow the opposite of Robin Hood’s. This is not to mention the rolling comments feed compares homeless people to feces slinging, needle pushing animals. More on that in the quote below.
Worst Opposition Quote
“We will not give hope (that is, drug addicts) a chance in our neighborhood… why put this magnet for all things bad in a residential, tourist, beautiful neighborhood. It will increase the chance that one (or more) of our children are assaulted, step on a needle, step on feces, etc. …”
The Outcome: A counter GoFundMe page raises significantly higher funds but still cannot erase the ignorance of the initial campaign.
Boulder, Colorado Residents Oppose a 44-Unit Affordable Housing Construction, Claiming the Land Would Serve the Community Better as a Firefly Habitat
You read that right. Here we have a group of homeowners who would save fireflies over humans. Their elongated list of reasons gets more ridiculous as it continues. However, the end goal still thwarts affordable housing construction.
The Situation at a Glance
Boulder, Colorado faces serious opposition to a 44-unit affordable housing construction they wish to build in an open field.
Residential Reaction
A petition is organized citing opposition to the “high-density housing development.” The people who sign it reject would-be low-income families … and their pets!
Why It’s Particularly Heartbreaking
The petition repeatedly uses language that puts low-income families on a level similar to or below insects and animals. They even go so far as to paint a portrait of affordable housing residents as being irresponsible pet owners as is illustrated in the below-listed quote.
Worst Opposition Quote
“This proposed plan of 44 units will surely increase the community dog population including the need for more Animal Control enforcement for off-leash violations.”
The Outcome: A 31-unit Housing First Center celebrates an incredible one-year benchmark, beating out the opposition and breaking homeless stereotypes in one fell swoop.
Changing the Narrative One Story at a Time
It’s important to remember that human beings, be they rich or poor, sheltered or struggling, are born into innocence, inherently good in nature. It is the narrative regarding low-income and homeless individuals that causes good people to go against that nature. It causes them to oppose the very thing that would create a brighter tomorrow for everyone.
Too many homeowners have the wrong impression about what it means to welcome affordable housing and those who need it into their neighborhoods. Instead of seeing a surge in community spirit, they envision drug needles, violence, and wild, untamed dogs.
It is up to us as a nation to change this narrative. We need to depict people for who they really are, human beings who deserve a safe place to live. Even more ironic here is the fact that so many affordable housing opposers cite safety as their number one concern. So, in the end, we all want the same thing. Safe homes. And in order to ensure that safety, these homes have to be affordable. For it is not affordable housing that gives way to an influx in crime. Rather, it is the lack of it that causes most of these issues.
A recent study released by Stanford GSB professors Rebecca Diamond and Tim McQuade has proven that affordable housing, in fact, revitalizes neighborhoods. Remember to speak with policy makers in your city or town about building more affordable units today.
