This weekend, community leaders held a march for affordable housing. The “House Us Now” march originated with the Community Empowerment Fund in partnership with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, EmPOWERment Inc, and the Interfaith Council. It called for affordable housing for community members who make 30 percent or below the area median income.
Participants gathered at the Peace and Justice Plaza on Franklin Street for the August 28, 2021 House Us Now march for affordable housing. (Ava Pukatch / Chapelboro.com)
Saturday afternoon, members of the community gathered at the Peace & Justice Plaza on Franklin Street. In the 90 degree heat, they called for change in the community.
Community members spoke on the steps of the Old Post Office and shared their experiences living in the town as well as the need for affordable housing for people making at or below 30 percent area median income.
Yvette Matthews of the Community Empowerment Fund led a song with the crowd saying, “It’s gonna be a better day.”
The march has started pic.twitter.com/vueNxxhnL9
— Ava Pukatch (@apukatch) August 28, 2021
Then, community members marched down Franklin Street holding signs which said things like, “Housing is a human right,” “We’re all neighbors,” and “Homeless lives matter.”
Participants marched from the Peace and Justice Plaza down Franklin Street to the Marian Cheek Jackson Center on Rosemary Street (Ava Pukatch / Chapelboro.com).
Organizers spoke with 97.9 The Hill ahead of the march including Matthews. She said Chapel Hill’s affordable housing is not targeted toward everyone – so many fixed-income or low-income populations are sleeping in cars or tents at night.
“Normal human beings should have a place to lay their heads at night,” Matthews said. “It’s not happening for our population. It seems to be a forgotten population. Even though we are not invisible, people are not recognizing that we are here.”
Paris Miller-Foushee of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP echoed Matthews comments on the importance of the march.
“We want to live in a rich community – not a wealthy one,” Miller-Foushee said. “A rich community is diverse, inclusive, and it recognizes, welcomes and celebrates everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status.”
Affordable housing in Chapel Hill is housing which costs no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. To qualify, household income must fall below 80 percent of the area median income or AMI.
Delores Bailey, of EmPOWERment Inc, said this march, however, is targeting 30% and below AMI. This equates to those who earn $7.25 or below an hour or $15,000 annually.
“If you do 30 percent of that, that means they can only afford $377 toward their housing,” Bailey said. “There is nowhere in Orange County a family living off of $15,000 a year can afford anything.”
Bailey said the need for these affordable housing units is not something community nonprofits can fix by themselves – especially when many affordable housing units are targeted toward the 80 percent AMI.
“We need developers to work with us to create this kind of housing,” Bailey said. “We need all the nonprofits working together and we need our politicians making this 30 percent AMI below a priority.”
Community Empowerment Fund – one of the march organizers (Ava Pukatch / Chapelboro.com).
As marchers celebrated at the ending location at the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, Matthews said this march is only the beginning.
“We will continue to do this,” Matthews said. “Every six months we will be doing this march until there is a change here in Chapel Hill.”
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