North Carolina Newspapers

November i996 Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina Housing Continued from page 1 port for nonprofit housing develop ers. $12.8 billion is what the state says will be needed to address hous ing needs in North Carolina. The Coalition plans to meet the $12.8 billion goal by first lobbying the state to put more public money into housing programs, raising aware ness among the general public, and then prompting private funders to open their doors and their wallets to low-income housing needs. Home ownership is what federal, state and local governments are stressing now, housing experts say, because ownership gives neighbor hoods a stronger sense of community That idea is the basis for much of what the Center for Community Self- Help in Durham does for its low- income clients. Self-Help has been nationally recognized for its loan pro gram for low-income home buyers. “Home ownership gives families a stake in a neighborhood, a reason to build it and take care of it,” says Martin Bakes, Self-Help’s executive director. Mobilizing private financiers to help low-income citizens secure housing is becoming an option where it wasn’t before, housing leaders say. Previously, government funding cov ered many of the costs of creating affordable housing and private financiers rarely looked at the issue. During a September visit to Self- Help, Nicolas Retsinas, commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, emphasized the necessity of private sector invoive- ment in creating affordable housing. Retsinas says it is imperative to strengthen partnerships between the government and nonprofits - like the one he helped create between the FHA and Self-Help. He visited the organization to officially recognize Self-Help as an approved lender of FHA loans. That means Self-Help will be able to approve federal loans. Private investors and corpora tions are slowly warming up to the advantages of putting money into low-income housing. Greg Barmore, chairman of 'Raleigh-based GE Capital Mortgage Corp., told an audience at the North Carolina Housing Summit in September that investing in low- income housing is simply good busi ness for private investors. Barmore’s company has been involved in handing out housing loans designed for low-income home buy ers. The program has worked sur- prisin^y well, he said, adding that the most troubiesome loans have been those made to the wealthy. “History’s on our side,” Barmore told participants at the summit. “High-income peopie give us our houses back, and it [often] turns out to be a lousy investment. Lower- income people don’t do that.” Accepting that low-income invest ments may bring greater returns is a stretch for some lenders. But there is more to housing than profit, housing advocates maintain. Whenever the investment is made for clean, safe, affordable housing, they say, there are returns in terms of greater oppor tunity and lower crime rates. Nevertheless, when legislators look for an easy place to cut funding, housing takes the hit, Shaw says. Government subsidies for housing have been chopped more each year. Since 1979, federal funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has declined, althou^ not in a steady sweep. A spike in 1985 put more than $30 billion into the department but, in 1986, that amount was cut to a httle more than $15 billion. In 1991, after a slow increase, came another spike - to less than $30 billion. Since then, federal funding for housing has either stayed flat or decreased sharply. From 1994 to 1995 funding dropped to about $19 million from about $26 billion. Housing in the state recently saw defeats in the General Assembly. Sharp media criticism erupted in November 1995, when legislators eliminated funding for the N.C. Housing Trust Fund - a program that Red Cross Continued from page 1 common purpose. The third phase is the disillusionment phase when peo ple say, ‘I thou^t you guys were going to take care of all families but I’m finding out you only do this and that.’ And the fourth is basically a rebuilding phase.” As the nation’s largest and most well-known disaster relief agency, Montague says, the Red Cross is a target for frustrations experienced by local agencies during a crisis. “If I were in their position, it would be difficult to deal with an organization as large as the Red CkQss,” he says. “We like to think that both" the Red Cross and the local agencies benefit from the mutual arrangements.” That’s not the impression that Marie Spaulding, Wake County’s director of human services, got from her contact with the Red Cross dur ing Fran. “I have to tell you that things did not operate as smoothly as I had imagined,” she says. “There was an inability to give a timely response. For example, if you’re going to set up a food site, you don’t keep people standing out there with no food show ing up.” “With the Red Cross, I didn’t know whether the controls were being puUed by the local or the state orga nization,” she adds. “I’m told by the [county] emergency people that these problems have been going on for a while. I’m just hoping that we can sit down and have a discussion with the Red Cross about our working rela tionship and our roles.” Montague says the Red Cross ranks every disaster on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the degree of destruction and the level of expertise of available volunteers. Local chapters are expected to handle services for level 1 and 2 dis asters; state chapters handle those at level 3; and the national Red Cross orgnnization usually steps in for a level 5 disaster. Fran was ranked at level 5 because monetary damages were placed at more than $1.5 milUon. The state estimates the storm caused $4 billion in property losses. One specific problem cited by leaders of Tar Heel food banks was that a load of food donated in the wake of Fran by Food Lion Inc. in Salisbury was shipped directly to the Red Cross instead of going through the Second Harvest food bank net work. “That was an exception to the ground rules,” says Greg Kirkpatrick, director of the Food Bank of North Carolina in Raleigh - which was the state’s designated food collection and distribution site during Fran. “This is product that conceivably would have ^ne into affected areas and, instead, was routed to a warehouse that was basically a dead-end warehouse.” Montague says the decision to send the food directly to the Red Cross was made by Food Lion, not the relief agency. And whiie the nine truckloads of food from Food Lion did not go through the food bank net work, the supplies were distributed to needy residents in New Hanover, Onslow, Lenoir, Robeson and Wake counties. [Salisbury is the hometown not only of Food Lion, but of Elizabeth Dole, who is on ieave from her job as president of the American Red Cross to campaign for her husband. Bob Dole, the Republican candidate for president.] The issue most often raised by nonprofit leaders in relation to the Red Cross’ role during Fran is that of publicity. Leaders of several crisis assis tance organizations say Red Cross officials spent an inordinate amount of time issuing news releases and attracting media interviews and often failed to give other agencies credit for providing services. Others charge that the Red Cross attracted the bulk of hurricane relief donations from individuals and cor porations but did not detail how the money was spent to help local resi dents. Mary Gorsline, state fundraiser for the Red Cross, says the agency spent roughly $7 million on relief operations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Viiginia for both hurri canes Fran and Hortense - which struck Puerto Rico. That includes the cost of provid ing shelter for 38,228 people, serving 704,817 meals and offering other assistance to 50,125 affected families. In North Carolina, the state’s 64 Red Cross chapters served up 604,558 meals and provided financial assistance to 4,877 famihes in the wake of Fran. So far, just over $3 million has been raised to make up that total, Gorsline says. “When you give to American Red Cross disaster relief, you are giving to the overall relief fund,” she says. “That’s money that’s available to us today if we have a disaster, say, in Charlotte. The national provides us with that backing.” Montague draws a direct link between Red Cross fundraising and what some may view as its overem phasis on publicity “We know people donate through the United Way and privately and cor porately to the Red Cross on the premise that it is a disaster relief agency,” he says. “We need to let peo ple who support the Red Cross know that it is out there and active.” In addition, there are many disas ters that attract littte public attention but still require resources from the Red Cross, Montague says. “We may be hungry with regard to publicity, if that’s the right word, because we know that this is a fat time for talking to people about dis aster contributions. But there are a lot of lean times when the disaster recewes no publicity” and little mone tary support. Dave Krepcho is familiar with the types of complaints some North Carolina nonprofits have voiced about the Red Cross. As head of the Daily Bread Food Bank in Miami, he heard similar charges in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, which struck south Florida in 1992. Before Hurricane Andrew, food banks and other nonprofits in south Florida had no working relationship with the Red Cross, Krepcho says. Now, they meet on a monthly basis and have formed a chapter of Voluntary Organizations Active in A Disaster - a national network of relief organizations. North Carolina nonprofit leaders are hoping for similar improvements in relations between the Red Cross and other organizations that provide disaster services. Anne Register, head of Metrolina Food Bank in Charlotte, was involved in discussions betw'een the Red Cross and the national Second Harvest Food Bank network that resulted in a “memorandum of understanding” in the wake of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The memorandum outlines the roles and responsibilities each agency will take on in providing disaster relief. Register, who is on the board of Second Harvest, says tensions between the Red Cross and the food bank network are typical of those experienced by others in the nonprof it sector. “It aU boOs down to personalities,” she says. “Some are totally coopera tive and others are very much into turfism...We just had a major disaster here in North Carolina and I under stand there were some varying opin ions about how food [and other relief services were] shared. The incidents that happen give us a new opportuni ty for discussion. I don’t think it’s anything that can’t be resolved.” Shaw’s coalition hoped to see receive $7.5 million to heip the poor buy and maintain homes. The legislature has since returned $3 million to the fund. Whether the funding comes from the government or the private sector, nonprofits will be taldng on more responsibility for service delivery “There’s a recognition at top lev els of government that nonprofit financiai institutions have a very important role in hooking up people who the traditional financial instu- tions haven’t served to home owner ship,” says Eric Stein, an executive staff member of Self-Help. □Whitney Jones INCORPORATE D w ^ Specializing in fund-raising lor non-profit organizations “Helping You Translate Visions Into Plans and Goals Into Achievements” ■ Long-Range Planning ■ Campaign Surveys (Feasibility Studies) ■ Prospect Research ■ Capital Campaign Management ■ Public Relations/Marketing ■ Donor Record Management ■ Special Events ONE SALEM TOWER • SUITE 302 119 BROOKSTOWN AVENUE WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA 27101 (910)722-2371 • FAX (910) 724-7381 J D- MORGAN ASSOCIATES Strategic Program Development ^ Communications Helping Clients Invest Resources Efficiently ■ Corporate Community Affairs ■ Public/Private Partnerships ■ Strategic Planning ■ Key Audience Communications ■ Meeting/Conference Facilitation 8612 Seagate Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 27615 Tel 919.518,2221 ■ Fax 919.518.2492 ■ Internet: JefretsonM@aol.com Winslow II CoNsiDiNE (jauns^l I Capital Campaigns Long Range Planning ? 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