EDITORIAL: Relying on Confusion to Push Development of Public Land

THE WASHTENAW COUNTY Board of Commissioners, including the Board’s three Ann Arbor Commissioners, are staunch supporters of social equality. They are also staunch supporters of social inequality through public-private partnerships.

The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, in a recent letter of support for the development of the Platt Road parcel which had once been home to the county’s juvenile detention center, suggested there is “community opposition” to the proposed “mixed-income housing with an affordable housing component.”

The truth is that there is differing opinion about whether the parcel should be dedicated to green, open space or handed over to development. The ICPJ, a small non-profit headed by a City Council member, is not only pushing a conservative political agenda, but hiding behind the skirts of social justice to do it. An “affordable housing component” leads many to believe developments which include such “components” are addressing the dearth of low income housing in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Nothing is further from the truth.

Rents for the affordable housing are targeted to households with income levels at or below 60 percent of the area median income. In the Ann Arbor region, the 2014 area median income is $87,400 for a four-person household and $61,200 for an individual. The maximum monthly “affordable” housing cost for individuals at 60 percent of the area median income is $918. The minimum wage in Michigan is $8.15. That equals a take home salary of $14,794, or  a monthly income of $1,232.

County officials should be reducing the number of households in serious housing need—those earning below 40 percent of median income who pay more than 40 percent of their income for rent.

The “affordable housing” game as it is played locally has led to the transition of affordable apartment units to fair market rental units. In Ann Arbor the number of public housing, housing choice voucher, Section 8 new construction and low-income housing tax credit units decreased from 2,100 in 2000 to less than 1,600 in 2012. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units grew by 61 percent over that time period. Developers in Ann Arbor take public money then, after restrictions expire, hike rents. The working poor are losing their housing while developers make millions in profits.