Opinion: Why affordable housing matters to us all
David Rabin

It was no surprise to me that the Greenwich United Way’s (GUW) 2020 Needs Assessment, detailing the human services needs of the Town of Greenwich (TOG), found affordable housing to be among the most critical issues. The GUW is in the business of creating lasting solutions and to develop solutions for unmet affordable housing needs, it is imperative that every Greenwich resident — all who benefit from the incredible opportunity, beauty, and community this town offers us — understand the facts and why the issue is so critical. As part of the GUW’s strategic plan, we intend to do more in terms of education on this.

It is also not surprising that something has been written about affordable housing in our local newspapers almost every day for the last few weeks. Just Google “8-30g Greenwich CT” and see what comes up!

The GUW is not new to working with the town on housing solutions and prioritizing affordable housing. Back in 2008, GUW conducted a study that led to the development of the Moderate-Income Workforce Housing Task Force Report (for more info visit the town website). We have held Community Planning Council meetings with guest speakers Anthony Johnson of Greenwich Communities (formerly Greenwich Housing Authority), Margarita Alban, Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and Sean Ghio, who is the policy director at Partnership for Strong Communities, a not-for-profit that fosters affordable housing solutions in Connecticut. I have also been joined by Ms. Alban and Katie Deluca, our town planner, on local radio shows that I regularly participate in.

One of the roles of the GUW is to educate the public on human services issues in Greenwich. As an apolitical organization, in this case we simply want to help define what affordable housing is and why it is a human services need so residents can draw informed conclusions based on the best information at hand.

Housing is costly and the number-one expense for most. Per the National Low Income Housing Coalition (2018), there is not even one county nationwide in which a renter working 40 hours a week earning minimum wage can afford a typical two-bedroom apartment (and not be cost burdened). In 2016, Harvard researchers found that nearly half of renters were cost-burdened (defined as spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent). Per the Greenwich United Way’s recent Needs Assessment, 24 percent of Greenwich renters pay more than 50 percent of their annual income on rent. (More granular information is available at greenwichunitedway.org/needs assessment.) And, going further upstream, the cost of land and subsequent development of that land in town makes the building of affordable housing expensive as well.

There is more to consider when discussing housing costs such as transportation, or the lack thereof. If there is not a robust public transportation system, renters can spend up to 50 percent of their income on housing and transportation (per the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index). Throw in the expensive childcare in this area and you are now defining our ALICE population.

ALICE is a United Way term that stands for Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed. That population in Greenwich (separate from the 7 percent of our total households under the Federal Poverty Level) is 22 percent. Those two groups combine for about 6,300 households in Greenwich that are, for example, a flat tire away from financial disaster, or about 29 percent of the approximately 22,000 households in town — a staggering figure.

Through the work of our Planning and Zoning Commission and many dedicated community volunteers, some movement has been made with the creation of an Affordable Housing Task Force and an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I encourage you to visit the town’s website for more information on the task force (forgive the brevity on this due to space limitations).

Some solutions that have been floated:

 Redefine how affordable housing is measured versus the 10 percent state mandate (Greenwich sits at 5.3 percent of housing stock being deemed “affordable”) and include country clubs, private schools, and others in the category of affordable housing.

The inclusion of housing provided for employees by private clubs, schools and other institutions is challenging because in order to qualify, the residents must work at those employers in very specific positions to receive that housing benefit.

 Greenwich Communities builds more affordable housing.

This seems to be the logical solution, right? Not so easy! It would take adding an additional 1,175 units of affordable housing stock to get Greenwich to the required 10 percent affordable housing stock required by the state.

So, what is the solution? There is no easy fix. We as residents need the best information to ascertain what the crux of the matter is and how to address it. This is an extremely complicated issue that needs to remain on the “front burner” with the Greenwich United Way as an active participant, educating the public and convening key stakeholders.

Bottom line? When housing is affordable, people can spend more energy and resources on health care, nutrition, education, and child care, benefiting the community at large.

David Rabin is CEO of Greenwich United Way. His email is drabin@greenwichunitedway.org