DeAntrel, 6, son of Habitat homeowner Sophia Brown, adds a landscaping touch to his new house in Anniston, Ala.

Facing F.E.A.R.
(continued)

"Almost always critics don't really know Habitat for Humanity," he says. "They don't know about the sweat equity or the homeownership opportunity. One common misconception is that Habitat families are getting their homes for free. We communicate with the opposition and try to keep them involved. Prejudice doesn't wilt in 10 minutes, but the more you talk with opponents, the more their opposition diminishes."

Another important means of overcoming opposition to affordable housing, according to Bright, is to design the housing so it is aesthetically similar to existing units.

"A lot depends on how the project is designed," she says. "A Cabrini Green will definitely have a negative effect on property values." (With demolition begun in 1995 to make room for freshly designed housing, Chicago's high-rise Cabrini Green public housing project was notorious for crime, drugs, gangs and violence.) "It was ugly and housed a large concentration of poverty. But things like HOPE VI programs and Habitat's approach make a difference. The more you can do to blend into the existing neighborhood, the better off you'll be and the less likely you are to encounter NIMBY." (HOPE VI is a federal housing program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.)

'We need to look past the front door to the people inside low-income households to understand how serious the problem really is.'

Like many Habitat affiliates, Charlotte County HFH takes that very approach. "We're compatible with the neighborhood in which we're building, and that's a powerful argument for us," says Thomas.

Regardless of the opposition or the intensity with which it's presented, many times individuals will agree that a project is needed--affordable housing, for example--but they just don't want it in their neighborhood, says Bright. The resistance can range from residents who voice their own individual opposition to a more coordinated approach by a neighborhood association.

	Robert Spence, 3, has lived in a Habitat house in Bakersfield, Calif., since 1998.

Most people agree that affordable housing is a good thing, especially given the lack of it in the United States, and that it should be built somewhere, if not beside them.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, some 65 million low-income people in the United States--24 percent of the population--experience housing problems, including cost burdens, substandard conditions, overcrowding and homelessness. People with extremely low incomes (30 percent or below of the Area Median Income) have the most severe housing problems. Almost three-quarters of those households pay more than 50 percent of their incomes for housing. "For too long, the true extent of the housing crisis in America has been hidden," says Sheila Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition president. "We need to look past the front door to the people inside low-income households to understand how serious the problem really is."

With house prices across the United States soaring, more people are finding it difficult to secure suitable housing, including teachers, police officers, firefighters and others who play vital roles in society. In 1999 the national two-bedroom Housing Wage was $11.08. (The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a fulltime worker must earn in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area's Fair Market Rent, paying no more than 30 percent of his or her income.) By the end of last year, that figure had jumped 37 percent to $15.21. In some states such as California and Massachusetts the housing wage exceeds $20.

To illustrate further: In Illinois, an extremely low-income household earning 30 percent of the Area Median Income of $63,639 can afford rent of no more than $477, while the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit is $823. A minimum-wage worker would have to work 123 hours per week to afford housing in Illinois. And Illinois is not even among the least affordable states.

There is little question, then, that affordable housing is needed--and that the approach taken to meet that need must be carefully considered. The West Town project in Chicago succeeded in large part, according to the developer's executive director Joy Aruguete, because of "bridge building" and community involvement in the project from the outset.

Thomas in Charlotte County, Fla., attributes his affiliate's success in overcoming the occasional opposition to a similar approach of neighborhood interaction--to educating residents about Habitat's mission, its partner families and an outcome that strengthens communities, not weakens them, and that raises property values, not reduces them.

Across the United States and around the world, Habitat for Humanity affiliates are taking a grassroots, community-based approach to house building. In doing so, they're broadening their local support base--in some cases appealing even to those who once whispered, "Not in my back yard."