Morning, gang.
This week we’re bringing you a snapshot of housing in Greensboro, from continuing concerns and tensions over how the city deals with those experiencing homelessness to the availability and condition of affordable housing.
First up, we’re encouraging you to read a recent in-depth story from Lorraine Ahearn for our partners at Triad City Beat. It deals with an issue The Thread has been following — the survival and safety of Greensboro’s embattled Interactive Resource Center for the unhoused.
I worked with Lorraine for years at the city’s daily newspaper, the News & Record, where her Nellie Bly via Jimmy Breslin vibe made her an important voice of and for the city—particularly its most vulnerable communities. As true today as it was then.
—Joe Killian
Interactive Resource Center Increasingly Dangerous?
Reports of fights, stabbings and guns have the already embattled Interactive Resource Center facing mounting concerns from city council, neighbors and the unhoused population it seeks to serve.
From Lorraine Ahearn’s story for Triad City Beat:
It was late into her first night seeking shelter at the Interactive Resource Center, and the young woman watched as a large SUV sped up to the front entrance. A group of five people, yelling threats, got out of the car and pushed their way into the crowded lobby where about 100 adults were sleeping on the floor.
“This is so scary,” the woman can be heard saying on a July 22 cellphone video she recorded at 11:08 p.m. from across the street and shared with Triad City Beat, requesting anonymity because she witnessed a crime.
“They’re going inside the [expletive] shelter,” she says on the video, her voice shaking. “Oh, no. I gotta get out of here.”
In that late-night incident, 911 logs show, four callers reported armed suspects entering the IRC, the city’s largest center for unhoused individuals; the Greensboro Police dispatched five patrol cars. Though no shots were reported fired and no weapons charges resulted, the incident was one of multiple disturbances this summer that IRC clients say have made them afraid to take shelter at the facility one block from the Greensboro Depot, the Experiential School, and Bennett College.
IRC administrators deny that guns were involved, and insist that their de-escalation approach to security and come-one-come-all policy has been a manageable response at the facility.
“We’ve been very happy with the way we’ve been handling it,” said IRC Executive Director Kristina Singleton. “Our doors are open to anyone who wants to come in.”
Jim King, who became IRC board chair in July, downplayed the July 22 incident.
“If there had been weapons, I would have been informed,” King said. “My understanding was, they ran around the day room and then they ran out.”
But unhoused men and women interviewed in recent weeks warn that the IRC is unsafe. Since the resource center moved from a day program to a 24/7 drop-in shelter last winter, clients described witnessing fights, a stabbing, a drug-infested parking lot, and IRC staffer accidentally sprayed with mace while intervening in a dispute, incidents confirmed by police reports and the IRC director.
Read the full story here.
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By The Numbers: Housing Edition
Housing problems are a persistent issue in Greensboro.
Rent prices and the city’s unhoused population continue to increase.
City officials spar over current services like the Interactive Resource Center and how efforts to address homelessness should be funded.
Those who do have housing face rent increases outpacing local wages, a shortage of affordable rental units, and substandard quality housing that can complicate efforts to find a place.
The city has taken some steps forward by supporting new housing construction and launching a $21 million lending program to support additional development. But fixing these issues permanently requires in-depth planning.
Housing GSO, a 10-year plan for improving affordable housing in Greensboro, looks at how the city can increase the number of affordable units, boost homeownership, and how housing providers can better support those in need.
Greensboro’s Consolidated Plan, a five-year report prepared every few years as part of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding process, gets at the specifics of the city’s housing needs. HUD gives the city funding as part of its Community Development Block Grant program. The city’s most recent Consolidated Plan was released for the 2020-2024 cycle and offers significant detail about housing needs in Greensboro.
The Thread will follow housing issues closely in the months ahead. Today we start with a By The Numbers look at the problem, with figures from the most recent Consolidated Plan.
4 – The main categories of housing needs (homes without plumbing, housing without a complete kitchen, overcrowding, and cost-burden) examined in the report.
114,552 – Housing units available in Greensboro as of 2017. 50.4% of these units are defined as owner-occupied, while 49.6% were renter-occupied,
14,600 – Vacant units in the city when the report was published in 2020.
42% – Greensboro households considered low-to-moderate income, a group that struggles to afford housing in the city.
The report also finds renters face significantly more issues, with just 48% of renter households reporting none of the significant housing needs defined above. Among homeowners, that number jumps to 75%.
Housing needs are also rising faster for some groups than others. The report notes that single-person households, low-income families, and people over 65 face serious issues. Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander households also face major hurdles in finding housing that they can afford.
The city has taken some steps to address the problems, including supporting the creation of new affordable housing complexes and purchasing sites for additional affordable housing development.
“That’s one of our missions: to make sure that there’s adequate, safe, and attainable housing for everyone,” District 1 Councilwoman Sharon Hightower said at the July ribbon cutting for the Lofts at Elmsley Crossing, a new 84-unit complex. “The people who live here today are the homeowners of the future.”
—P.R. Lockhart
Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
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What We’re Reading
Soul Food Fight: Last week the popular soul food spot Kim’s Kafe came under fire for what some called a draconian dress code: No leggings, crop tops, t-straps, or even shorts. A planned “slut lunch” in protest of the policy was canceled, but the conversation continues.
Nancy McLaughlin had the story for the News & Record, where Executive Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson also weighed in. Triad City Beat Managing Editor Sayaka Matsuoka took a closer look at some of the racial and cultural tensions underlying the conflict.
Clarey Family Still Recovering: Last week we told you about Triad City Beat Publisher Brian Clarey and his family’s terrible highway collision with an 18-wheeler.
The GoFundMe set up to support the family has raised more than its $100,000 goal since its launch, stretching to $200,000. The family has a long road to full recovery, according to an update from Brian’s sister-in-law, who shares more details here.
Around the State
On the Frontlines of North Carolina’s Natural Gas Buildout
An LNG processing facility, four power plants, multiple compressor stations, and a number of pipelines are all awaiting state approval. Person County activists wonder: Can any of it be stopped?
A Small City Fights to Hold on to Baseball
The minor league Kinston Wood Ducks are about to depart, and now the former tobacco hub is looking for a new baseball team.
Flagstock Promised a ‘Rager.’ It Mostly Left Questions.
Conservative operatives raised $500,000 after UNC fraternity brothers went viral last spring. It’s still not clear where all that money is going.
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