Tonight I, and two of my council colleagues, met with a representative from developer The Ingerman Group. Ingerman has proposed to develop a 49-unit, multifamily rental complex in the far East End of town on Sandy Street. This development is called workforce housing by advocates, but low-income housing by detractors.
Initial reaction has been cool at best, because the reality is that Norristown has more renters than homeowners, and certainly has its share of affordable, if-not-quality, places to live for low- and moderate-income households.
Are we just driving Norristown further down a deep hole by agreeing to this development?
Well the jury is still out.
But one thing that can be said is that The Ingerman Group is a quality firm. I have perused their website and was impressed by the variety and quality of affordable housing projects they have done.
Take for example a senior housing project in Chester, PA -- Pentecostal Square:
http://www.ingerman.com/rental.php?property_id=55
Such development is a commendable role for the church in service (rather than in worship), and shows an important investment of public funds to provide low-income seniors a quality place to live.
Those who are not affluent nevertheless deserve the dignity of a quality place to live.
I'm not rich, so I don't live in a gated community with private security guards. But that doesn't mean the place where I live should not be a nice, even if affordable, place to live and raise my family.
We are going to continue to listen to The Ingerman Group and learn more. I encourage you to do the same and share your feedback.
Quality development is quality development -- whether it serves wealthy people or working people.
And this could be an opportunity to bring quality development to a community of hardworking folks.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
As always, feel free to express your opinion or ask questions as we continue to gather information and learn about what is possible and in the best interests of our community.
You have a tough decision, Marlon. I've been there and can understand. Let me just put in my two cents on the matter. Low income housing in and of itself is not a bad thing. What is a bad thing is the oversaturation of low income housing and its effect on the community.
ReplyDeleteAs you stated, Norristown has an over-abundance of rental properties. Renters, by and large (and this is not anything against renters) have no stake in their community. They are here temporarily and the majority of them don't really care about what happens. This creates an issue when you have a large transient community who do not put a stake in where they live.
Homeowners on the other hand generally care. They take care of their properties and are vigilant to what is going on around them. They invest in the community and a lot of the times try to make a difference.
I know about the Ingerman Group and have not doubt they will build a solid building and work to get tenants in who will be responsible. But unless these tenants will become homeowners at some point, we will continue to have a majority of transients in Norristown.
So Council has to weigh the good with the bad and determine if the addition of x number of rental tenants is a good thing for the community. Will Ingerman allow these tenants to become stakeholders in the community by working toward homeownership? Will these tenants care about what goes on? Or will these tenants come, stay a while, and go on, leaving us in their wake.
Thanks for the opportunity to voice my opinion - Olivia
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. You are a forming long-serving councilwoman and experienced in the challenges of local government.
I think the big (unspoken) issue here is how does one develop a poor community?
It may seem negative to describe Norristown in this way, but census data from 10 years ago suggests nearly one out of four households here live at or below poverty.
Several structural or market forces have caused this to happen.
These forces, in my view, outweigh your analogy that renters do not care and homeowners do.
In a poor community, residents may own their homes, but because they are a) retired and on a fixed income or b) under-employed or unemployed and on a limited income, even homeowners cannot keep up their properties.
I know this experience first-hand right here in Norristown and I'm sure you know it as well.
Oddly, a rental property, which generates income for the owner, in this community is often better positioned financially to repair the property than homes owned by poor homeowners.
So income or wealth in a community is a general factor.
Also transients are not always bad, it depends on what type.
Conshocken has a ton of rentals. But it has become attractive to a) young professionals; and b) college students. Most towns welcome this demographic. They may be short-term, but they typically have disposable income and support things like local restaurants and a variety of basic services -- barber shops, beauty salons, pubs, florists, hardware store, etc. Their vivacious youth also spurs a variety of trendy economic development.
Interestingly, though, many young professionals can be "poor" despite what I have said. They live in Conshy, because they have one or even two roommates, and because Philly is too expensive.
But we never think of these persons as "poor."
Both of these realities are do to market forces.
Finally, with respect to markets, The Ingerman Group is able to buy the land and the property is zoned for multi-family construction. Except for the moderate income target group, this is a function of the markets (land is available, affordable, and desired land-use is within property's present zoning). To oppose them is to oppose the market forces at work, which has brought the project to us.
Chopped up houses all over Norristown filled with poor residents on section 8 vouchers and unfortunately undocumented immigrants paying cash are also the result of market forces. But more, they are the result of governmental ignorance and corruption. Norristown for years looked the other way as homes were chopped up. And various forms of zoning relief was granted, when we didn't look the other way, undermining our own rules.
Some would see this as less regulation -- a popular term -- used by the GOP machine, which mangled Norristown local government for decades. And now we see the results.
This project, I truly believe, can neither overturn market forces, nor exascerbate public incompetence that gives rise to the decline of overall wealth in our community.
I think my most basic question is -- will this be a quality project?
Finally, the issues of wealth, class and race that lead to the housing segregation as a result of market forces and poor government oversight in Norristown can only be resolved by facing those realities head-on.
... I was having a little trouble posting this Olivia, so in conclusion:
ReplyDeleteThese types of realities were dealt with honestly by the community of Pennsauken, NJ, as portrayed in the documentary, "The New Neighbors." See a description of this here:
www.thenewmetropolis.com/media/resources/Neighbors_Synopsis.pdf
The question is whether Norristownians -- homeowners and renters -- are willing to get passed I think the broken analysis of homeowner vs renter -- and deal with wealth flight, race segregation and public incompetence, which are the root problems, and work as a diverse community towards greater stability.
Long reply, but simply put, I'm not prepared to jettison a good project for political expediency, without tackling these tougher, more ingrained, rather intractable issues.
Thanks for listening.
BTW, I like your other blogs!
A posted few good resources concerning "Smart Growth" for sustainable communities at bottom of these comments. As far as building more "new" apartments, from my experience growing up in the city of Hawthorne from 1963-1988, a middle-class town supported by major aerospace i.e., Northrop, Hughes Aircraft, McDonald Douglas, TRW, etc., we were a safe family friendly neighborhood. The moment the city developed hundreds of rental apartments due to eminent domain to build a major highway (Century Freeway 105)which encroached upon many homes. The moment the apartments were building the it completely changed the community, renters were transient, the apartments looks nice as new apartments, but little by little the apartments were not kept up and then things went downhill. Yes, there are market forces, but we need to somehow deal with the powerful landloads who own most of the housing stock and figure out ways to
ReplyDeleteturn existing rental housing into "mixed-used" buildings for small business and apartments (similar to Bridgeport's new construction on Fourth St.) so that the emphasis is upon simulating and fostering growth through "small businesses" rather than this focus on trying to attract large corporations to move into Norristown hoping it will create jobs for residents. The concerns this creates is that large corporations can come and go for whatever reasons and thus leave the community vulnerable. However, if we foster the development and growth of the small businesses as on West Marshall Street, business owners have a vested interested in the community, they live in town, they exchange goods and services, the use of public transportation and walking is encouraged, create jobs for the community and become a vital part of the communities long-term growth. The recent issue with the parking challenges on West Marshall and the implications it has on small businesses is an important matter. We need to do everything possible to support our local businesses. We should consider Septa bus routes or shuttles so that patrons can shop at the local business and thus minimize traffic. Which can in turn help alleviate the the reliance on solutions where to find more parking spaces. We have to create an environment to cultivate small businesses as provide incentives to do business in Norristown. With PathMart no longer in the picture, we should help the Thriftway Dekalb St. market and encourage the occupancy of the storefronts that they built that have been vacant for whatever the reasons are. We should encourage small businesses success an create opportunities for lower income (not only "the poor" but startup poor) to encourage starting their own businesses that will stimulate growth, jobs and homeownership. But something has to stop the 52+% rental units to be made available for homeownership. To accomplish that however, means threatening the power and economic interests of those who controls housing stock. This is where the systemic relationships that are not a political party to blame but rather the related to the socio-economic/stakeholder/gatekeeper relationships that exist in the town.
That's my two cents thoughts.
Some references resource:
http://www.epa.gov/piedpage/index.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/21/building-stronger-sustainable-communities-through-strategic-coordination
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/SCP-Fact-Sheet.pdf
A posted few good resources concerning "Smart Growth" for sustainable communities at bottom of these comments. As far as building more "new" apartments, from my experience growing up in the city of Hawthorne from 1963-1988, a middle-class town supported by major aerospace i.e., Northrop, Hughes Aircraft, McDonald Douglas, TRW, etc., we were a safe family friendly neighborhood. The moment the city developed hundreds of rental apartments due to eminent domain to build a major highway (Century Freeway 105)which encroached upon many homes. The moment the apartments were building the it completely changed the community, renters were transient, the apartments looks nice as new apartments, but little by little the apartments were not kept up and then things went downhill. Yes, there are market forces, but we need to somehow deal with the powerful landloads who own most of the housing stock and figure out ways to
ReplyDeleteturn existing rental housing into "mixed-used" buildings for small business and apartments (similar to Bridgeport's new construction on Fourth St.) so that the emphasis is upon simulating and fostering growth through "small businesses" rather than this focus on trying to attract large corporations to move into Norristown hoping it will create jobs for residents. The concerns this creates is that large corporations can come and go for whatever reasons and thus leave the community vulnerable. However, if we foster the development and growth of the small businesses as on West Marshall Street, business owners have a vested interested in the community, they live in town, they exchange goods and services, the use of public transportation and walking is encouraged, create jobs for the community and become a vital part of the communities long-term growth. The recent issue with the parking challenges on West Marshall and the implications it has on small businesses is an important matter. We need to do everything possible to support our local businesses. We should consider Septa bus routes or shuttles so that patrons can shop at the local business and thus minimize traffic. Which can in turn help alleviate the the reliance on solutions where to find more parking spaces. We have to create an environment to cultivate small businesses as provide incentives to do business in Norristown. With PathMart no longer in the picture, we should help the Thriftway Dekalb St. market and encourage the occupancy of the storefronts that they built that have been vacant for whatever the reasons are. We should encourage small businesses success an create opportunities for lower income (not only "the poor" but startup poor) to encourage starting their own businesses that will stimulate growth, jobs and homeownership. But something has to stop the 52+% rental units to be made available for homeownership. To accomplish that however, means threatening the power and economic interests of those who controls housing stock. This is where the systemic relationships that are not a political party to blame but rather the related to the socio-economic/stakeholder/gatekeeper relationships that exist in the town.
That's my two cents thoughts.
Some references resource:
http://www.epa.gov/piedpage/index.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/21/building-stronger-sustainable-communities-through-strategic-coordination
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/SCP-Fact-Sheet.pdf
Brian, thanks for your comments. It is obvious you are passionate about this issue.
ReplyDeleteYou may not realize this, but the Southeastern Pennsylvania First Suburbs Project has been very instrumental as a regional equity organization in advocating for the policies you are citing from Washington. We have directly engaged senior administration officials at HUD, DOT and EPA, so I'm very familiar with the policies you are citing.
Conversely, "urban renewal," often rooted in literally paving over poor neighborhoods and displacing homeowners (though often poor) with highways and moving them into apartments or worse (projects) is absolutely not what we are talking about here.
Finally, as it relates to small business, I'm just going to bracket that as a separate issue from building workforce housing. There is work in Norristown to promote and support small business, where businesses are in storefronts and the business owner resides upstairs, although in today's world they are more likely to rent upstairs units.
Thank you for raising your concerns. It seems to me Norristown is going to need more data, precise data that becomes public data so we can know where this community stands in terms of rental units, apartment units, single-family home rentals, etc. We need exact information, and your comments points to that need.
Thank you.
Councilman Millner
Interesting discourse on this subject, and one that I am very interested in.
ReplyDeleteYou mention Conshohocken. The population there is very different from Norristown as far as economic diversity is concerned. They have a wider range of income and most of their residents, rental or otherwise, than we do. In addition, their recreational businesses are far more varied. They have many restaurants and bars and a large amount of creative outlet that the young folk you are talking about go to. We do not. It is not fair to compare us to Conshohocken.
Norristown, right now, because of its low income majority cannot support the kinds of economic development that Conshohocken has. Furthermore, if you bring in another low income housing structure without the mechanism in place to create more economic diversity we will become more of a bedroom community where restaurants and bars could not sustain their business on the day time traffic that we have from the court house.
Again, I submit to you that if the imbalance continues and the diversity of this community is brought down further than it already is, further degradation will ensue.
Olivia, Conshocken has become very different, with "become" as the operative word.
ReplyDeleteIn lay terms, it experienced gentrification. And gentrification happens BEFORE everything is there. It's the process of it getting there.
Now, is gentrification bad? That's the flip side of this?
Government's tools are limited, especially local government to control the money flow of the market for development.
But, what I do believe is that a) Norristown is a value proposition for young adults and young couples who want an urban feel and a small community and a discount to Philadelphia. That's exactly why I am here with my wife and two kids.
When I say young professionals, I don't mean 25 years old. Everything under 50, and maybe up to certainly 40 is in that profile.
On my block, there are really two types -- young adult professionals, single and married (with babies) and longtime homeowners. Maybe why we -- a mix of renters and owners -- are here in Norristown would provide a perfect foil for a marketing campaign.
But I don't think the restaurants and shops come first. The folks come first.
My decision is not made, I will be doing substantially more research, and may politically concede the viability of this project. But on its own merits, there is very little chance of convincing me that it leads to degradation.
The failure to redevelop Montgomery Hospital in a timely manner will have more to do with degradation than this project. The debacle of its neighbor to the north, 770, has more to do with degradation than it.
So, while it has become symbolic and emblematic of everything some think is wrong with Norristown, political sophistry aside, on the merits I don't see it as anything of that sort and cannot ultimately make my decision from what may be a well-meaning, but nevertheless propagandist effort to defame something that resembles little the illegally chopped up houses and slumlord apartment buildings rented to section 8 voucher holders and undocumented workers paying in cash.
In large part, I agree with the sentiments shared so far. However, I disagree that renters have no stake in their community.
ReplyDeleteThe sad reality is that a majority of people in this country will always be renters for a variety of reasons. Does that mean that they will never care about their community or that they will never get involved? I say no.
I'd like to change that phrase slightly to state that renters of substandard housing in a community that is poorly managed have no stake in their community.
This changes the lense. This includes slumlords and ineffective government officials. We know that not all owners are slumlords and not all elected officials are ineffective. However, they all play a significant role on the stage.
As a property owner, I am invested in the community. I may be a minority, but I am. So, maybe we need to crack down on the property owners that don't care. Norristown has the authority to do this.
As a landlord, most of my tenants are invested in their apartment. If they are not, we get rid of them. However, the key is to give them safe, clean and affordable housing. The key is treat them with respect and respond to their needs. The key is to hold them accountable.
I don't know if they are as invested in their community, but based on their conduct with me, I would venture to say that if they felt as good and safe about their community as they did with their apartment, they would.
So, we can welcome this workforce project because there is always room for good rental properties. This will also create competition for the slumlords. This is the easier way out -letting a developer come make money by adding housing.
However, we need to take the hard way. Norristown must get serious about cracking down on slumlords and removing the blight or we'll be talking about this for years to come. It is time to take on this entrenched sector because slumlording is a very lucrative business and they won't self regulate, or leave on their own.
" Norristown must get serious about cracking down on slumlords and removing the blight or we'll be talking about this for years to come. It is time to take on this entrenched sector because slumlording is a very lucrative business and they won't self regulate, or leave on their own."
ReplyDeleteNever were truer words posted in regards to Norristown as it is now....