This post was written for The Ground Floor by Marge Fahey is director of media relations at the Urban Land Institute.
"Workforce housing has become a big problem for us; driving to affordability is no longer an option," J. Michael Pitchford, co-chair of the Washington D.C. ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing, explained to more than 60 business leaders at a breakfast meeting May 14th at the Bank of America offices.
The ULI Terwilliger Center called upon the business community to join its effort in making workforce housing a reality. The Terwilliger Center asked leaders to be part of the solution by joining a new regional initiative -- the Workforce Housing Endorsement Coalition.
The goal of the Coalition is to promote the creation of well-designed and strategically-located workforce housing in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, and to recognize this housing with an annual awards program. In addition, the Coalition will offer public support and recognition for completed projects, or those that are under regulatory review by a local jurisdiction in the Washington, D.C. region.
The Terwilliger Center invited Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, to speak about the importance of joint efforts and coalitions in solving key community issues, such as housing affordability.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group currently represents 260 employers who provide one out of every four jobs in Silicon Valley and have generated $1.5 trillion in annual revenues. "We ask [the employers] annually, what is the top issue your employees face? …the answer always comes back 'homes that our employees can afford.' It's an issue that we have to address."
Guardino noted that less than 15 out of 100 families could afford a home in Silicon Valley. "We are competing globally and with 49 other states," Guardino remarked. He further stated that 66 out of 100 families can afford a home in Raleigh-Durham and in Austin, Texas, 71 out of 100 families can afford a home.
Quoting Winston Churchill, 'We have no permanent friends, nor permanent enemies; we have permanent interests,' Guardino said the way to build a coalition is to put aside differences and work together. Further, he noted that it is necessary to work at the grassroots and grasstops levels to supplement and reinforce one another.
Guardino explained the three-pronged housing strategy -- advocate, educate and legislate -- the Silicon Valley Leadership Group adopted. For advocacy methods, the Leadership Group established a set of criteria to evaluate project proposals for affordable housing developments in their region. Once a project wins the support of the Leadership Group, public endorsements follow.
Guardino spoke of a city council meeting in San Jose where 150 people were opposing an affordable rental development, with another 35 people in line to testify. "I was the lone supporter -- one man armed with the truth is the majority," he said. "City council held firm and approved the development." Years later when the project was complete, the individual who organized the opposition came to Guardino and said, 'If we had any idea that these are the types of homes and families that would be living here, we would not have been opposed to this project.’
"This coalition is the critical next step," Pitchford explained after Guardino’s speech and introduced Bob Youngentob and David Mayhood to speak about the Workforce Housing Endorsement Coalition for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
"Carl spoke about the issues we are trying to address: How do we work together to get our region to understand the need for workforce housing," said Youngentob, co-chair of the Terwilliger Center and president of EYA, LLC. The goal is to have a multitude of businesses and housing supporters involved in a partnership to endorse and publicly support housing for the workforce, he said.
Mayhood, co-chair of the Endorsement Coalition and president/CEO of Mayhood Companies, discussed the need to build a broad-based coalition across the region. He acknowledged this is not a one-time effort, but a long-term sustainable ongoing program, and is "a message that has to get out. Let's show people what really works and what is being done; then we can testify and say ‘this is good workforce housing.'"
Youngentob acknowledged that he saw the coalition as having a broader based mission of raising public consciousness of the need for workforce housing and documentation that workforce housing can be profitable and supported by public officials. "Part of this is education. We plan to engage people and appear before communities and councils."
Mayhood added, "We see our role as convening stakeholders so that 100 of us can speak with one voice."
Ron Terwilliger, benefactor of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing, stated he is "inspired by the collaboration between business leaders and the housing community in their efforts to build a Coalition. A strong, unified voice is a key solution to counteract NIMBYism–a major barrier to the production of workforce housing."
For more information on the Workforce Housing Endorsement Coalition and to become a part of this one voice, please contact Janine Cuneo 202-624-7003.
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