Won’t you be my neighbor?

Is all affordable housing good? Is it morally defensible to put affordable housing somewhere that you wouldn’t put other housing?

These questions came to mind last Wednesday during a Chapel Hill Town Council meeting at which representatives of the town’s Office for Housing and Community proposed putting affordable housing on three parcels of town-owned land — 7.3 acres off Bennett Road, 24.5 acres off Dogwood Acres Drive near Southern Village and 7.3 acres near Jay Street on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro town line.

The properties were scrutinized and endorsed pursuant to locating destinations for the soon-to-be-displaced residents of Lakeview mobile home park.

What struck me was that staff tagged the parcel of land off Jay Street as a suitable affordable housing option. But anyone who has visited the parcel might think otherwise. A steep ravine dominates more than half of the acreage — so steep that it cannot be built upon, according to town statutes. A section of the land looks as if it was used as a construction dump site, so some environmental testing of the land is in order.

One border of the Jay Street property is a cemetery. Another side abuts the Northside neighborhood, a historically black section of town. And another side runs along the railroad tracks at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro town limits. Those railroad tracks are still used to transport coal to the UNC power plants near Merritt Mill Road and audibly transits the line two or three times a day.

According to documents released by the OHC, the properties were screened for “absolute constraints to development, including: regulatory floodplain, state and local stream buffers, utility easements, parcels managed for conservation purposes, and properties with ongoing or planned development.” But it sure looks like no one involved in the decision-making took the time to walk the Jay Street site and get an idea about the lay of the land before endorsing it as suitable for affordable housing.

I would wager that the Town Housing Advisory Board members who recommended the land for affordable housing also didn’t explore the parcel. Only about 3 to 4 acres seem developable. Town staff reached out to residents of manufactured homes and learned that they preferred single-family houses. Apartments ranked lowest on their preference list.

One criterion the OHC might want to add to its rating scale: Would a market-rate developer be interested in the parcel? For the past 15 years or so, long before the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance was approved, councils have indicated a strong desire for subsidized housing to be mixed in with market-rate homes to form a cohesive neighborhood. Everyone benefits. Low-wealth people would live in a neighborhood they are proud to call home and would not be stigmatized on job applications for a particular street address. High-wealth people would expand their social circles and get to know, as friends, the people whose work keeps the town functioning. For years, councils have believed that the people we welcome into our lives to tend our yards, clean our homes and serve us at restaurants are also welcome as neighbors.

Treat low-wealth residents with respect. Select land and housing options that would appeal to people across the wealth spectrum. That speaks well of our town’s moral compass.

— Don Evans