The Great Divide: Vanishing Affordable Housing
The Great Divide Vanishing Affordable Housing Along the U.S. 1 corridor in Alexandria, Va., there’s an explosion of apartment and condominium construction. The local economy is on an upswing and housing prices on the rise. At the same time, the City of Alexandria's Office of Housing reports half of its affordable housing units were lost in the past ten years. Land scarcity, rising housing prices and the new building boom have decimated Alexandria’s affordable housing stock. Prices for those new condominiums start at $600k and the townhomes at $1 million. The city’s lower and middle-income families are feeling the squeeze as a tightening housing market is pushing rents up. The reality is, there are market forces at work, here in Alexandria and across America, that are further separating us as a society. The poor are driven out in the name of progress and profit. There’s a great divide underway in our society that will leave us unrecognizable as a nation in the years to come. This project is intended to serve as a bridge of understanding into the lives of those who are being impacted. During this last year, I have met many families who may face leaving Alexandria. Most were born here and are now considering leaving their hometown. Their options are few.
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Along the U.S. 1 corridor in Alexandria, Va., there’s an explosion of apartment and condominium construction. The local economy is on an upswing and housing prices on the rise. At the same time, the City of Alexandria's Office of Housing reports half of its affordable housing units were lost in the past ten years. Land scarcity, rising housing prices and the new building boom have decimated Alexandria’s affordable housing stock. Prices for those new condominiums start at $600k and the townhomes at $1 million. The city’s lower and middle-income families are feeling the squeeze as a tightening housing market is pushing rents up.
The reality is, there are market forces at work, here in Alexandria and across America, that are further separating us as a society. The poor are driven out in the name of progress and profit. There’s a great divide underway in our society that will leave us unrecognizable as a nation in the years to come.
This project is intended to serve as a bridge of understanding into the lives of those who are being impacted. During this last year, I have met many families who may face leaving Alexandria. Most were born here and are now considering leaving their hometown. Their options are few.
King St
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King St
This is Mike Davis. Mike was born and raised in Alexandria. He had a very rough childhood and has occasionally lived on the streets of Alexandria. I learned that despite Mike being chronically homeless, Mike wrote letters to companies for donations on behalf of his friends on the streets. I met Mike outside the Christ House soup kitchen.
Night crossing US 1
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Night crossing US 1
Mike worked in construction for many years as a carpenter but got sick. He has heart disease, is diabetic and now has kidney disease. This is Mike’s house on U.S. 1. His house is sandwiched in between $700-$800 homes.
Mike's house
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Mike's house
Mike’s place isn’t so nice. In fact, it should be condemned. The owner has been cited with nine code violations. Mike is afraid of his landlord who is on parole and they often get into arguments. The house used to be a crack house and is in disrepair.
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Mike Davis inside his home on US1. The house is an $850 per month rental in sore need of being brought up to city code.
Upstairs to meet Candy
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Upstairs to meet Candy
Mike wanted me to meet his roommate, Candy. She has some health issues and Mike looks after her because no one else was. She was homeless when he found her.
Mike's room
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Mike's room
Mike hoards things even thought he has a roof over his head. He still thinks like a homeless person.
Candy's room
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Candy's room
Candy has severe depression and other issues. She rarely comes out of her room.
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Mike Davis and Wayne Hulehan pray together at Commonwealth Baptist Church in Rosemont. Davis serves as a deacon in the church.
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Deacon Mike Davis places money in the offering plate at Commonwealth Baptist Church in Rosemont.
Eviction
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Eviction
Candy and Mike talk about what they’re going to do if they’re evicted.
Christmas
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Christmas
Mike was happy because someone in the church wrote a letter on their behalf to an organization giving away a fully decorated christmas tree. He and Candy won.
Caressa
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Caressa
Caress is a single mother of four. She became pregnant when she was just 16 years old and a student in high school. She dropped out and never finished school. Caressa lives in the Samuel Madden public housing, one of the last developments from the 1940s slated for demolition in 2015. She used to work at Best Buy for minimum wage but quit. She couldn’t make enough to cover the cost of child care.
Dinner
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Dinner
Caressa is on SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and worries how to make the food last for the month.
In your face
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In your face
Caressa’s stoop faces the new housing. It used to be an identical housing project like hers. These condos start in the upper $300ks. 34% are supposed to be affordable housing units but displaced residents must qualify to move there.
Street
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Street
Hanging out on the street at night with a friend. Her 10 year-old daughter dances with the baby.
Birthday
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Birthday
Caressa takes her family to Chuck E Cheese for her son’s birthday. They don’t cut the cake there but take it home and use it for a second party with neighbors.
Support
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Support
Caressa joins a women’s neighborhood group. They have guest speakers that give career and family advice. Caressa wants to go back to school but doesn’t know how she could afford it.
Neighbors
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Neighbors
A neighbor child looking for a handout. This is a very close knit community. When the kids are hungry, they’ll move from house to house. Caressa is generous and gives meals even though she’s stretched thin.
Patrols
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Patrols
Summer nights in public housing can be a bit raucous. Caressa knows most of the neighbors and the police. The community is very tight. She worries what will happen when she loses this support group when she’s forced to move elsewhere in the city.
Book
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Book
Nisa is a college graduate, a single mother of four, a community activist, motivational speaker and published author.
Kitchen
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Kitchen
Nisa lives in public housing but doesn’t receive any public support but for Medicare for the children. She wants to make a life for herself and her kids. Here she’s preparing for a city community meeting she plans to attend.
Meetings
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Meetings
Nisa organizes a meeting for parents of the local middle school. It is snowing but she managed to lure the superintendent all the way from Baltimore to come and speak to her group.
Median income
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Median income
Nisa is fully aware of what is going on in the city regarding development and affordable housing. She knows the area's median income is $106 for a family of four. She schedules calls to Senator Warner, emails Michele Obama, blogs and keeps a very tight calendar.
Bundle up
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Bundle up
Nisa and her children prepare to walk to a community meeting. The kids wear these signs when they walk anywhere. They don’t particularly like it but play along.
Info
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Info
Nisa prepares to speak before a committee on housing. She wants to know when they’ve scheduled the demolition for her building. There is no date as of yet.
Home
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Home
Home from the meeting. Her house is spartan but clean. The children’s artwork hangs all of the walls. Certificates and homework.
Future
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Future
Nisa is solid but still worries about the future. She told me “I’m like cream, I always rise to the top.”
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Over 240 Alexandrians wait in the cold outside Cora Kelly Recreation Center Saturday morning for ALIVE!'s Last Saturday Food Distribution, a program for families in need of assitance.
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Sarah Fields and Harriet Moore wait inside Cora Kelly Recreation Center Saturday morning for a five-day supply of fresh produce and staples. Volunteers distribute groceries once a month to serve about 600 families across Alexandria who are referred by social service agencies and ALIVE! congregations.
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But sometimes not everyone rises to the top.
The number of people living in poverty is growing in this country. As a nation, are we willing to accept the increasing number of the elderly and the poor, many of whom work 40 hours per week or more, who sit outside in the cold at dawn waiting for two bags of donated groceries because they don’t have enough money to get them through to the end of the month?
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A long wait for groceries.
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But sometimes not everyone rises to the top.
The number of people living in poverty is growing in this country. As a nation, are we willing to accept the increasing number of the elderly and the poor, many of whom work 40 hours per week or more, who sit outside in the cold at dawn waiting for two bags of donated groceries because they don’t have enough money to get them through to the end of the month?
WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
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WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Because there’s a pattern here. The divide between the rich and the poor is ever widening. The middle class is disappearing. The rich are getting richer on the backs of the poor and the middle class. Thomas Piketty, author of the book Capital in the 21st Century wrote, “The drift toward oligarchy has become a mad dash and will overrun us and overwhelm us unless we stop it.”
The Washington, DC area is home to six of the wealthiest counties in America. Affordability is not synonymous with this region. In the last decade, Alexandria lost 12,000 affordable housing units. The Washington Post reported Alexandria and Arlington, in an attempt to address the housing crisis, recently approved plans that will add 200 moderately priced units to the area.
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In Alexandria, Va, the median income for a family of four is $107,000. Federal guidelines determine affordable housing rates based on 1/3 of that median income. Working a minimum wage job at $7.25 per hour/40 hours per week, a worker brings home just under $14k per year. That means he or she can afford a rent of $382 per month based on federal guidelines. The average rent in Alexandria, Va is $1,850 for a two bedroom apartment.
Combine Mike, Caressa and Nisa’s incomes and together they can’t even afford the affordable.
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In Alexandria, Va, the median income for a family of four is $107,000. Federal guidelines determine affordable housing rates based on 1/3 of that median income. Working a minimum wage job at $7.25 per hour/40 hours per week, a worker brings home just under $14k per year. That means he or she can afford a rent of $382 per month based on federal guidelines. The average rent in Alexandria, Va is $1,850 for a two bedroom apartment.
Combine Mike, Caressa and Nisa’s incomes and together they can’t even afford the affordable.
Mike
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Mike
In Alexandria, Va, the median income for a family of four is $107,000. Federal guidelines determine affordable housing rates based on 1/3 of that median income. Working a minimum wage job at $7.25 per hour/40 hours per week, a worker brings home just under $14k per year. That means he or she can afford a rent of $382 per month based on federal guidelines. The average rent in Alexandria, Va is $1,850 for a two bedroom apartment.
Combine Mike, Caressa and Nisa’s incomes and together they can’t even afford the affordable.