Robert Deyle, Gita Pitter, Rev. Sylvia Jones
The Tallahassee Democrat recently reported that over 1,000 schoolchildren in Leon County qualify as homeless; and that is an undercount. They attend every school. School Superintendent Rocky Hanna has said that the principal reason is the lack of housing their families can afford.
As a community that strives to be a healthy and safe place for people to live, we should not shrug this off as some artifact of rising inflation or other force we cannot control. This is a problem we can tackle, but our local officials must step up to the challenge. We need them to understand that this is unacceptable.
These children are casualties of the affordable rental housing crisis the Capital Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) has repeatedly brought to the attention of local elected officials. They are the most vulnerable victims among the more than 16,000 families in Leon County with very-low and extremely-low incomes ($43,000 and $25,800 or less for a family of four) who are severely housing cost burdened, spending more than half their income on rent and utilities.
Homeless children have higher levels of emotional and behavioral problems; are at greater risk of malnourishment; and are more likely to suffer serious health problems. They experience more school mobility; are more likely to repeat a grade and be expelled or drop out of school; and have lower academic performance.
The 2022 Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness states that the fundamental solution to homelessness is housing. County housing staff cited this fact in proposing that the County Commission require affordable rental developers seeking county funding and bond authorization to set aside a portion of their units for families exiting homelessness. The commission voted to do so.
City housing officials, on the other hand, often claim that city policies and programs, which primarily target production of affordable owner-occupied housing for families with low and moderate incomes ($51,600 and $68,800 or less for a family of four), will free up housing for those with lower incomes. That claim is illogical. The severely housing cost burdened families in Leon County are already living in rental housing they cannot afford.
The challenge comes down to money. Rental housing developers cannot afford to set aside large numbers of units in their mixed-income projects for people earning very-low and extremely-low incomes because they do not earn sufficient rental income to cover their debt service and operation and maintenance costs. Existing federal and state financial incentives are inadequate.
On Tuesday, April 16, CAJM expects to host up to 1,000 members of our community in a Nehemiah Action Assembly to call on members of our city and county commissions to take action to address this crisis. We will ask them to commit to establishing and financing a joint city-county land acquisition and leaseback program modeled on Pinellas County’s successful program for incentivizing affordable rental housing developers to set aside more units for families with these incomes.
CAJM invites all members of our community who believe that more than 1,000 homeless school children is unacceptable to join us in calling on our elected officials to act now.
Join us at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the Old West Florida Enrichment Center, 2344 Lake Bradford Road.
Robert Deyle is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee and co-chair of the CAJM Affordable Housing Committee.
Rev. Sylvia Jones is a member of Mt. Zion AME Church and co-chair of the CAJM Affordable Housing Committee.
Gita Pitter attends the Tallahassee Religious Society of Friends and is co-chair of the CAJM Affordable Housing Committee.
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