Two Cities – The Growing Economic Divide – by Phil Tom
Our cities are becoming a tale of two cities – one for the low and middle income, the other for the financially well to do. I read the New York Times’s Sunday’s Real Estate Section to see how much the real estate market in New York City continues to skyrocket upward! Every Sunday, the article “The Hunt” tells about an individual or couple who are hunting for an apartment within their financial range and the challenges they face in finding something “affordable!” The absurdity of the New York City’s housing market was demonstrated by someone who was excited to find a studio apartment near Grand Central Station for $3,005 a month.[1] For someone making the minimum wage of $11 in New York City, the yearly payment for the studio apartment of $36,060 would greatly exceed his/her annual income of $22,880. California is also experiencing a severe affordable housing shortage. “Gentrification is taking more and more once-affordable rental units off the Los Angeles market, and restrictive zoning laws along with high construction costs and anti-development sentiment make new affordable units hard to build. Over the last six years, the rent for a studio apartment in Los Angeles has climbed 92%, according to UCLA law professor emeritus Gary Blasi, so that even people who have jobs can find themselves living on the streets after a rent spike or an unexpected crisis. As Blasi notes: “In America, housing is a commodity. If you can afford it, you have it; if you can’t, you don’t.”[2] Even in a medium-size city like Indianapolis, Indiana, the city is partnering with a community development corporation to retain their public school teachers by providing them with affordable housing through the development of a Teachers Village.[3]
The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “2017 Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing” report says this – “In no state can a person working full-time at the federal minimum wage afford a two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent. A renter earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would need to work 117 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home at the Fair Market Rent and 94.5 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom. “[4]
Many low and moderate-income residents are being forced to move out of the city due to gentrification and rising housing costs. These residents are being forced out to the first or second ring suburbs. Many of these folks not only endure longer commutes for their jobs in the city but also bear the additional costs for transportation. The longer commuting time also creates additional problems in accessing childcare, transportation and other services.
Many of the jobs created in recent years with our economy growing again are low-wage jobs, temp jobs, and part-time jobs.[5] Wages have stagnated for low and moderate-income workers. These factors are increasing the income inequality gap between city residents and creating neighborhood inequality and economic segregation within cities. “When low-income persons are segregated in high-poverty neighborhoods, they are systematically cut off from public resources in education, housing, and healthcare and simultaneously exposed to higher levels of crime, violence and economic isolation.”[6] This is not a new phenomenon. When public housing was built in the 1940-50s, they were built in racially segregated or isolated areas of the city. The problem has become exacerbated now with the loss of public housing, the cutback in Section 8 housing vouchers, and the lack of development of new affordable housing units.
So, what can the faith community do to address this growing divide within the urban economy? First, it must lift its prophetic voice and be an advocate for the development of additional affordable housing units. Some city residents have been waiting years to secure publicly subsidized housing. The faith community needs to push for legislation that will increase public funding for affordable housing and the number of affordable housing units in the city. Cities also need to develop and adopt zoning and housing plans that will economically and racially integrate all its neighborhoods. The Living Wage campaign has gained significant momentum over the past few years. The need for a $15 an hour wage has been organized by low-wage workers, especially those in the fast food and retail industries. Some cities and states have adopted a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The faith community needs to stand in solidarity with these workers and to support such legislation. The faith community also needs to support other elements of the safety net that are currently being threatened to be eliminated or significantly cut back by the current Trump Administration such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.
To effectively address the growing economic divide, the faith community in each city must partner with a broad range of community partners such as housing and labor advocates and to organize a comprehensive city-wide approach to this growing crisis. The faith community can support the development of additional affordable housing units, increased funding for affordable housing, support a living wage, provide access to affordable childcare, healthcare and other public services, and develop a just city zoning and housing plan that addresses issue like gentrification and economic segregation. The faith community must lift its prophetic voice to address the unjust practices that continue the growing economic divide in our cities. To do any less, our cities will continue to empty out many of its low and middle-income families and turn into nothing more than “gated communities” for the financially well to do!
_________________
Phil Tom is a Presbyterian Church USA clergy. He is the newly elected Executive Director of the International Council of Community Churches. He has served as a Pastor for 25 years, served in a variety of roles with the national Presbyterian Church USA, non-profit, independent and public sectors, including serving in President Obama’s Administration.
[1] New York Times, Real Estate Section, January 28, 2018, pg. 12.
[2] Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2018, Editorial page.
[3] The Indiana News. “Blighted homes to become Near Eastsider teachers village.” September 15, 2017.
[4] National Low Income Housing Coalition 2017 Out of Reach. http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/OOR_2017.pdf
[5] Money Watch. “America’s Job Problem: Low Wage Work is Growing Fastest,” August 4, 2017.
[6] “Economic Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1970-2010. “ Paul Jargowsky and Christopher Wheeler, November 2017.