After reading this article – “How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?” – I wondered how Lexington would stack up.
Based on the latest data I could find in the sources cited, our average weekly wage is $811 and the average housing cost per square foot is $108. This puts us right in line with Charleston, SC and Austin, TX.
It’s a pretty blunt metric, but one benchmark to ponder… and if you think Lexington should be more affordable, please share your ideas for making that happen.
Read the article at: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/08/how-long-will-you-need-save-buy-home-your-city/3085/
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When we speak of affordable housing we must not leave out gentrification. My husband and I make a modest income and have been saving for a down payment, ourselves. We are renting and have made a point to connect to our neighbors in tangible ways. We cannot put a dollar value on the love we feel when we share our vegetables with one another or bake pies together. Our neighbors have become family and friends as we sit on their porches as we listen and share.
Every neighborhood association meeting we are blessed to sit at the feet of those who have been living here for 30 years or more give us detailed history about the places we love and the culture that cannot be purchased. Sadly, all of this is being destroyed by profiteers buying homes in our neighborhood, “flipping” them, and then selling them for prices none of us living here can afford.
I live in the East End where most residents are under-served and marginalized. 85 to 90% of the children in my neighborhood receive free or reduced lunch. When I last checked, the median household income was $14,570 and nearly half of my neighbors live below the poverty line. But, those statistics do not define us. We are hard working contributors to the fabric of Lexington. There is a remnant of people, strong and full of purpose who work hard to promote health and sustainability throughout.
Sadly, most of our homes are tenant occupied and that statistic will continue to rise because neighbors cannot afford the price gouging. In the name of progress, marginalized people are being pushed out to make way for hipsters. And when that happens, where are my neighbors supposed to go?
We have seen businesses show up in our neighborhood that thrive yet, they do not hire one person from the neighborhood to work in the establishment. We have watched as house after house around us is purchased, some cosmetic things are changed, and then it sells for double or triple what it was worth mere months ago. As we continue to save for a down payment, the houses are gobbled up and neighbors pushed out. As the culture around us disappears we weep.
Recently, a prominent couple had to move out of the home they were renting and considered buying because it went on the market. Their landlord decided they could sell it for much more and if this couple could not afford those terms, they needed to leave. The home is located in the heart of an area that last year was plagued with shootings and drug activity. This couple remained steadfast and helped to bring peace to the neighborhood. Overnight, the home they had considered buying at an affordable price, was painted, a few cosmetic changes were made, and the house went on the market for triple the market value in the area. Who can afford those prices? Certainly not the people living in my neighborhood.
This couple that brought peace and creativity have moved to another neighborhood and the house sits empty waiting for someone who can afford it. The landlord will gain cash and a huge return on their investment but, we have lost so much. What dollar value can we place on a couple that set an example of healthy partnership for the children in our mostly single- headed household neighborhood? What dollar value can we place on a couple that refused to let crime remain on their street and did something about it? What dollar value can we place on a couple who brought us so much? The things we lost when they moved away cannot be quantified or qualified. What we lost cannot be measured. There is a gaping wound in our fabric that cannot healed.
I do not begrudge anyone the right to secure a living for themselves. Buying and selling property is a lucrative business and it is certainly the investors’ right to buy and sell properties as they see fit. But, I long for the day when profits are not valued above people. In my perfect vision for what this could be in my neighborhood, I see business owners attending neighborhood association meetings and asking neighbors what they imagine. I see them involve neighbors in the process. When they create a new business establishment, I see them actually hire and train a staff of neighbors. Creating new jobs does not mean hiring from a pool of people who already have jobs across town in wealthier neighborhoods.
There are no easy answers. I can’t ask people not to make an easy profit, can I? Business owners are taking big risks and it is paying off for them. I can’t ask people to consider social capital and neighborly love when they are perfectly within their rights to buy and sell my neighborhood brick by brick. But, I would love some answers. I would love a deeper conversation. I would love my neighbors to be afforded the dignity of a seat at the table. To me, the difference between gentrification and community development, is inviting the people most affected by your decisions to the table, not merely to placate them, but to include them.