“We plan to go to the county commission and tell them what is going on!” said Jayne Williams of Kannapolis today at the launch of the new campaign One New Fund, Many New Homes in Cabarrus County.
No matter your race, your age, your gender, or where you come from, Cabarrus County should be a place for us– all of us. To be here, to work here, and to raise our families here– we need safe and affordable places to live.
For too long, our local government has favored big corporations and business interests over those of regular, working people like us. It has created a lopsided community where too many of us simply can no longer afford to live.
That’s why our local members gathered today to launch One New Fund, Many New Homes– a campaign to get the Cabarrus County government to take affordable housing as seriously as the residents here do and put 1% of the county budget towards affordable housing. The county currently spends no money on affordable housing.
You read that right: $0 is put towards affordable housing in Cabarrus.
Finding safe and affordable housing in Cabarrus County has reached a crisis point. Nearly half of us (49%) have trouble paying rent, and nearly 20% of homeowners struggle to afford our homes. In total, over 20,000 Cabarrus residents are cost-burdened because of how unaffordable the local market has become.
The consequences are real, hurting our families and communities. Last year, when Down Home learned that our county is 5th in the state for the highest number of evictions, we set out to organize. We successfully ran a campaign to get the County Commission to fund an eviction prevention program– helping families stay in their homes during hard times.
However, preventing evictions is just the beginning. Despite this huge crisis impacting all of us, our county government puts no money towards affordable housing projects. It’s time to make sure that our local government is accountable to the people who live here. It is their job to make sure that living in Cabarrus County remains accessible for all of us– but currently, the County Commission spends $0 to help create affordable housing for working folks.
Are you with us?
Live in Cabarrus County and want to make help make it a place affordable for all of us? Tell the County Commission to fund affordable housing with 1% of the the budget!
Sign the Petition!Get involved in Cabarrus County!
To join other poor and working folks organizing in Cabarrus County, contact Jasmine Lewter at [email protected]
