Affordable Housing: Views of Candidates for Erie Board of Trustees, 2022

Diversity goes beyond race, gender, gender identity , age, etc. It embodies all aspects of socio economic levels and demographics. I want people of all walks to be able to live in Erie, whether they work outside the town, from home, or within the town. I love the phrase “workplace housing.” We need affordable living options for young people starting out, local workers, teachers, police, seniors, and those facing life changes like divorce, that can stretch budgets.

Housing is a core infrastructure. A safe, warm home is foundational for the wellbeing of families and individuals, and is therefore foundational for a healthy, welcoming, diverse community. I think communities should include people at every stage of life from young people just starting out, to young families, empty nesters, seniors, kids moving back to be near their hometown, people of every gender, culture, distinction. As well as the workforce who do the important work of building a thriving Erie: teachers, town staff, police and firefighters, restaurant employees, grocery store workers etc… It is estimated that 3100 people commute to Erie to work every day, coupled with our lack of transit, that has an impact on our environment and Erie’s ability to remain competitive in the job market to recruit and retain these important personnel. It will be hard to convince people to work in Erie if they are commuting past nine other viable jobs on their way here. Ensuring that we have affordable housing will address several issues in front of Erie including building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community; staffing concerns; and sustainability.

I believe that everyone deserves to live in the community where they work; not segregated to an undesirable corner of a municipality but rather integrated into its fabric and identity. Erie has set a 12% goal for inclusionary housing. Given we have an existing inventory of over 8,000 rooftops of which only a handful of affordable/attainable units, I do not believe the Town’s efforts will be sufficient to meet those needs. With the cooperation of the home building industry, we must do something dramatically different to address this crisis.

When my family and I first relocated to Erie from the Houston Area 13yrs ago, we experienced severe sticker shock in attempting to find a place to live despite our both being fairly well compensated engineers. Now that we have watched the cost of living continue to increase and the cost of housing outpace wages, I am increasingly concerned at how sustainable this latest trend can be. A large portion of our residents are either small business owners or employees who now fall within what HUD identifies as housing distressed owners or renters. Given the challenge of running small businesses, it would not be a stretch that an Erie resident could easily be both. This spells a crisis that could lead not only to continued pricing out of our local market, but it could lead to a wave of foreclosures similar to what was seen just over a decade ago.