General Questions
1. Do you believe there is an affordable housing crisis in our community? If not, what is your position regarding the need for affordable housing in Madison?
Yes. Too many people are living in housing they cannot afford, that is too small for their family, or far from where they work. Too many people are trapped in pockets of poverty because their housing options are so limited. Others simply cannot even get a foothold in Madison because of housing costs. And the fact that Madison’s affordable housing stock is concentrated in a few neighborhoods impacts all our neighborhoods, making them less diverse in terms of class and race.
There are other, less obvious impacts of the lack of affordable housing. For example, because many young families can no longer afford to live in the east isthmus, our neighborhood schools get threatened with being closed, something that would affect everyone’s quality of life. My district is very concerned about this, particularly in light of suggestions to close Emerson Elementary and Lapham Elementary, and proposals to send children from the Brentwood Neighborhood to Emerson, or children from Packers Avenue to Marquette Elementary.
Landlords and realtors like to claim there is plenty of stock available at supposedly affordable prices. In many cases their claims are simply untrue, in other they ignore the problems with many of the units, in terms of size, location and whether they are in good repair.
2. How much, and what type of affordable housing is in your district? Do you think there should be more or less than the available supply in your district? [Mayoral candidates, please answer in regard to the entire city.]
District 12, as a whole, is rather diverse. In the Emerson East neighborhood, near East High, there is a mix of rental and owner-occupied housing, most of which can’t be considered affordable. My neighborhood, Eken Park, is similar, although homes are slightly more affordable. The Sherman and Sheridan Triangle neighborhoods in the central part of the district are mostly single family, owner occupied housing, and are often considered one of the last affordable places to buy a home in Madison. However, even these neighborhoods are close to the point where many young families cannot afford to purchase a home and taxes are further straining our many elderly residents.
Only as you mover further north along Packers Avenue, around Northport Drive, and just south of Warner Park in the Brentwood Neighborhood do you find affordable housing (see map at right for reference; note in the heavily clustered brown areas indicating multi-unit developments, and the relative lack of such units anywhere else in the district). Much like other part of Madison, District 12s most affordable housing stock is very dense, heavily clustered and physically tucked away from sight or walled off from the rest the surrounding neighborhoods by major arterial roads.
The northern part of my district in particular prides itself on being diverse and affordable. These are characteristics I will work to maintain.
3. List any housing issues you have worked actively on in the last year, either as an elected official or as a member of the community.
I supported increased funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I supported ending Section 8 discrimination at the county level. I supported inclusionary zoning when it was adopted and testified in opposition when the conservative faction of the Common Council attempted repeal IZ. (see http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2006/01/18/0601180578.php and
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2006/07/12/0607120436.php)
I also worked with neighbors in the 1900 block of E. Dayton St to get a better, community-oriented response to a drug house in the area. While not directly an affordable housing issue, it is one of many that can affect how housing, especially “affordable” housing is viewed in Madison. Too often bad apples in some affordable housing cause others in the community to generalize about “negative effects” of affordable housing being available in any given area.
Through my neighborhood work I’ve been very tuned into development and other issues that, unless taken with a broad view, can slowly chip away at the availability and diversity of housing options.
4. What is your definition of affordable housing? Where do you see the highest need, or what would be your priorities in targeting various income levels?
The federal definition, 30% of one’s income strikes me as a good place to focus the debate about whether housing is affordable, though 30% quickly becomes a major hardship given the cost of transportation, child care and other daily expenses in Madison. While IZ, I think, holds promise for moderate income families and young professionals, we need to do more for those with lower incomes and larger families.
5. Aside from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Inclusionary Zoning, what are your additional new ideas for addressing the affordable housing crisis?
1) Working through the anticipated rework of the zoning code to make sure affordable units are spread out and part of every new development.
2) Getting the city to work harder on the demand side of housing, helping people get the training and support they need and assisting businesses that pay family-supporting wages and benefits so more people can afford the prices that Madison’s housing market drives.
3) Exploring policy options to retain permanent affordability for lower income families and rental units not affected by IZ.
6. What initiatives in other policy areas could support more affordable housing (for example, transportation, economic development, childcare...)?
What’s affordable in terms of housing for any family completely depends on other expenses – Transportation in particular is often the second largest household expense. I support an affordable, accessible public transit system. I also support high quality, affordable childcare. In addition to the economic development issues mentioned briefly above, my goal is to view every decision made by the city in terms of whether it helps people live in safe neighborhoods, in homes they can afford; whether their children are going to safe, educational environments when they go to jobs that can support their families; and whether they have transportation choices available to them to get to work and around the city. This holistic approach to thinking about what we do as a city is hard, but too important to not work toward on a daily basis.
In addition, I think TIF funds should be better targeted toward better economic development and affordable housing; that the City Council should be more vocal about the damage done by the state’s shared revenue formula that pushed costs onto the regressive property taxes roles; and we should enforce anti-discrimination laws that protect recipients of housing aids.
7. What is the position of your campaign on contributions from landlords, realtors and developers? Have you pledged not to accept some or all of these contributions?
I am not accepting any Committee money (money from PACs, political parties or other candidate accounts), nor am I accepting any conduit money. I believe it is critically important that candidate have a wide, diverse base of financial support. I’m proud to have a base of support that has contributed more than $9,000 to my campaign, with an average contribution of around $50, and no special interest money.
Affordable Housing Trust Fund
8. How much money should be put in the trust fund each year and where should these funds come from?
What our trust fund really needs is a dedicated source of funding so we don’t have to fight every budget cycle to fund it. Failing that, there are no easy answers, and we will have to continue to fight to put as much money from property sales and other sources into the fund as possible. It should not take us 25 years to fully fund it – that’s ridiculous. I hope to work with to people like Ald. Brenda Konkel and groups like AHAA to build community support for the ATF so we begin to live up the promises made when the fund began.
9. What percentage of the fund should be used to create affordable housing each year? Why?
Given that we’re no where near full funding, this question seems a bit premature. But in theory, we should not draw down the capital of the fund so as to preserve it for the long term.
Inclusionary Zoning
10. What is your perception of the Inclusionary Zoning ordinance? What changes, if any, would you make to the ordinance?
As I mentioned above I was a supporter of the original ordinance and fought the efforts to repeal it this past year. I am proud of the thoughtful work of many, especially Alder Konkel and Mayor Dave, who stood by the ordinance in the face of repeal, looked openly to the areas needed for improvement and then crafted the appropriate language to update the ordinance. The disingenuousness of people like Phil Salkin of the Realtors’ Association and others who did not engage in good faith efforts to adjust the ordinance was appalling to me. I was particularly frustrated by the complete lack of marketing on the part of the developers.
I believe we need to continue to monitor the ordinance, make additional adjustments as necessary, and expand our work on affordable housing to other strategies in addition to maintaining a commitment to IZ.
Fair Housing and Tenants Rights
11. What resources are you willing to dedicate to increasing and improving enforcement of Chapter 32 (the landlord-tenant ordinance)?
It frustrates me that the protections offered under Chapter 32 are virtually useless given the lack of enforcement. I would support directing the City Attorney and Police Department to make enforcement a higher priority, and I will support an expanded role for the EOC.
12. Are there any housing ordinances currently in existence that you would amend or change? Which ones how and why?
The rewrite of the zoning ordinance, I believe, offers us a chance to think fresh about how we approach development and housing in Madison. I would also be interested in discussing ways to give more weight to neighborhood plans which often include detailed recommendations on housing.
13. How can the City improve enforcement of accessibility requirements under the Federal Fair Housing Act in new housing?
I am not familiar enough with this Act to offer any specifics. I would appreciate information and advice from AHAA on this matter, which I would then make sure is communicated to my constituents as appropriate.
Homelessness
14. What is the role of the City in the homeless shelter system?
The City needs to work harder, in partnership with the County and with service organizations, to ensure there is enough shelter space to accommodate needs on any given night, especially in winter. I think we all need to be more aware of the level of homelessness in Madison and build the support necessary to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place and also provide assistance when it happens.
15. What is the responsibility of the City to provide support services such as case management?
I believe this is currently primarily a County responsibility, but think the City needs to do what it can as well. Simply providing shelter only puts a band-aid on a larger wound, No one wants to be homeless, and many people are, obviously, in dire need when they find themselves homeless. Counseling, training and other supports should be a major part of any strategy dealing with homelessness.
16. What can the City do to prevent homelessness?
We can invest in programs that provide economic development and training targeted at jobs that provide living wages; find creative strategies to provide affordable housing; provide child care assistance, AODA treatment and affordable workforce transportation. The city can advocate for affordable health care. Any one of these things can easily make the difference between being a stable situation and one where homelessness is suddenly a part of the picture. Too often people are one pay check, one accident, one injury away from being unable to pay the rent or mortgage. I think if we work hard on these fronts we’ll find that the homeless situation will also improve.
17. What do you think are primary obstacles to getting out of shelter for those people who do have an income, and how can we eliminate those obstacles?
Sometimes it is finding a job, sometimes issues with mental health and AODA, sometimes access to child care to be able to work. My answer above speaks to some of these issues. Sometimes people are simply unable to work. We used to have a reasonable safety net in place and I believe we need to begin to string it back together, in partnership with community organizations, the county, the state and the federal government.
Allied Drive
18. During revitalization efforts, what can the city do to prevent displacement of good tenants who currently live in the Allied Drive neighborhood?
The most important thing is that we respect the desire of the residents of Allied Drive to “move forward, not out”. We need to involve Allied residents in every step of the process. It is important to the entire city that we develop not just the physical properties in Allied, but that we also invest in the community and the services it needs.
There are three facets to preventing gentrification and displacement: retaining quality affordable housing, producing new affordable housing, and building the assets of current residents so they can remain in the area even as prices rise. We need to work on all three right away.
We should also support the community by working with them to provide childcare and after school programming, job training, and public health services. And because transportation is often the second largest household expense after housing, we should ensure efficient, affordable public transit service to the area.
19. Do you believe that the way to fix the Allied Drive neighborhood is to have 50% homeownership? (If yes, please explain. If no, what should it be?)
I don’t think the percentage of homeownership is nearly as important as creating opportunities for current residents to become homeowners. For the city properties, we should insist on designing efficient, permanently affordable homes of many sizes that can be rental or owner-occupied, and we should at the same time design programs that will help current residents move into these homes. For other properties, we should explore the possibility of creating land trusts and housing coops as well as more traditional housing and home purchase subsidies. For example, Washington DC recently passed a tenant right of first refusal law, under which landlords selling their properties have to offer the tenants the opportunity to buy the building. Given Madison’s strong tradition of housing coops, we might want to consider something similar.
