The Truman Heartland Community Foundation is working to address affordable housing challenges in the communities we serve.  Our research found that 22%, nearly 1-4 households in Eastern Jackson County, are cost burdened with the housing costs of their mortgage or rent, plus utilities, taxes, and insurance.  This means that they are paying more than 30% of their gross income for housing costs. And 1 in 10 households are severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their gross household income for housing.

We have many young adults in our community who are getting established in their careers and are among these housing-cost-burdened households. Let's, for example, consider college graduates starting their first year of teaching in one of our area school districts. First year teacher salaries in our area districts range from $42,000 to $44,000. So, 30% of the gross monthly income of this teacher making $44,000 is $1,100.

We have many new apartments in our community, with more being built. Looking out my window from the third floor of the Blue Ridge Bank Building, I can see the Trinity Wood Apartments. Reviewing their website shows a 634 square foot 1-bedroom apartment rents for $1,225.

This amount, before utilities and renters’ insurance, is already more than 30% of gross income of our new teacher at your child’s or grandchild’s school. And if this teacher wanted a little more space, an 828 sq ft apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom is $1,445 (again not including utilities and insurance).

We have many other young professionals in our community facing similar challenges, for example police officers, firefighters and nurses. These are people who are serving our community every day, public servants, who cannot afford to live in the communities they serve. I hope most will agree with me that this is a problem, and a challenge we must address as a community.

Too often, we encounter community resistance when a proposal for “affordable housing” is made. NIMBYism is alive, well, vocal and trending (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). My hope is that more people will recognize the need for housing for our workforce of public servants like teachers, police officers, fire fighters and nurses, and support Affordable/Workforce Housing developments in our communities in the future.

I ask that you keep this in mind the next time you see a NIMBY post on your social media feed. Let’s work together as a community to address this challenge.