The article on the first phase of the Poppleton development ("On second try, financing deal for Poppleton goes to City Council," April 18) brings to mind a two-fold crisis which the Baltimore area, for the most part, has not dealt with.
First, in almost all cases, poor working families, the elderly on fixed incomes and the disabled cannot afford the decent, safe housing that is now being built in the city and the region. Secondly, when I travel through Baltimore and some parts of the surrounding counties with visitors, they mention that they notice what has been consistently highlighted in surveys done by groups like the National Low Income Housing Coalition — the huge division between higher-income communities and large areas of concentrated poverty populated mostly by African-Americans. The Poppleton development deals with the first part of the problem in that the agreements between the city, state and federal governments and the developer ensure that a percentage of this new development's housing units will be for low-income residents, but it does not deal with the second. There are no provisions or programs in place that will help the residents of the surrounding high-poverty neighborhoods to continue living there, except for the Homestead Property Tax credit.
In the city, there are some promising developments in places like the ones being envisioned along North Avenue which, if implemented well and used as a model, will begin to help answer our two-fold problem. But just about all of the city's new developments have no affordable housing units, and it's much the same in the counties — as seen, for example, in the 2,500 new units built or in the pipeline in the Towson area without a single affordable unit.
Those who represent all of us no matter where we live — our city's and region's leaders — must become more aware of the circumstances and the hopes and wishes of many low-income people, some of whom feel they would benefit greatly from an affordable home in a new development which has safe, decent housing and some of whom feel that the community where they are currently living is in distress and needs revitalization which will help make it a more safe, healthy place for them to live without forcing them to leave. Baltimore City's failed inclusionary housing law has produced only a couple dozen minimally affordable units in two new developments with all the others having no affordable units. That must be changed or new measures must be enacted which will make housing more affordable in new developments for low-income families.
While we are waiting for these changes, why can't the city bring into play deals with developers like those used in the Poppleton project which will at least have a percentage of affordable units in the development itself? Also, the whole Baltimore region has to look at the best practices by which the revitalization of an area is happening without the forced displacement of current residents which must include collaboration with them.
Bro. Jerry O'Leary, Baltimore
The writer is coordinator for justice and peace for the Xaverian Brothers.