QNotes, August 6, 2021

news
Affordable Housing Continues
to be a Problem for Us All
Successful Businesses and Gov’t Orgs Reaching Out to Those in Need
by Julianna Peres
qnotes Staff Writer
The Havens is a 25-unit property in
Charlotte, originally built in 1995 to
provide housing for those living with
HIV/AIDS and other disabilities.
Charlotte residents Pete Mangum
and partner Libby Jernigan were among
the first to recognize that a place like The
Havens could provide life-altering potential
for patients in need.
Originally a board member of the
HIV services organization Brothers
Foundation, Mangum was no stranger to
the challenges both clients and organizations
faced during that time. While searching
for potential funding, she came across
a grant from the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) that could
potentially allow Mangum and Jernigan to
start the process for the creation of the
space they envisioned.
After filling out extensive paperwork,
submitting the grant request and finally
being awarded the funding, the two purchased
a piece of land that would eventually
become Haven House and one of
the first ever affordable housing units for
people living with HIV/AIDS in Charlotte.
It was Mangum who approached Rev.
Debbie Warren about The Havens, asking
her to bring it to the board of RAIN as a potential
collaboration. Warren spent almost
30 years at RAIN after founding the organization
and serving as the Executive Director
Dedicated to providing education, medical
and emergency assistance to those with
HIV/AIDS, RAIN has been recognized by several
local award committees for embodying
their mission to “replace judgment with
understanding, prejudice with compassion
and ignorance with knowledge.”
“Pete, along with Mickey Helms, the
Property Manager, are a very important part
of the reason that The Havens has been sustained
to this very moment,” said Warren.
In 2020, The Havens’ board requested
RAIN’s expertise in support services, management,
and fundraising. On March 1 of
this year, The Havens expanded its board
bringing on Warren as Board Chair and
creating an advisory committee. Today,
The Havens operates under its 501(c)3
nonprofit and RAIN provides programmatic
and fundraising support. According
to Warren, they are still getting to know
each other and be good partners. “We
just wanted to make sure this property is
preserved for our community,” she said.
There are 6,665 people living with HIV
in Mecklenburg County according to 2019
data from AIDSVu which tracks the impact
of the virus on communities across the
United States. Of those, only 70.7 percent
are linked to HIV care.
Since that initial request from Mangum
so many years ago, both RAIN and Haven
House have evolved their offered services,
client needs and the number of clients.
“What we’ve been able to do,” Warren
8 qnotes Aug. 6-19, 2021
The Havens, an affordable housing community, recently received a surprise donation from Lowe’s
that will allow them to make necessary repairs and updates. (Photo Credit: Jim Yarbrough)
offers, “is to begin to understand, on a
deeper level, what all the issues are and
then what the priorities should be.”
Stable housing has been closely linked
to positive health outcomes, and 25 years
after the founding of The Havens, it is still
a major priority for people living with HIV
in Charlotte.
“Affordable housing is something that
people are very interested in right now
because there is no affordable housing
in Charlotte [and] there is no affordable
housing for people with disabilities,” says
attorney Lee Robertson who chairs RAIN’s
board of directors. The Haven’s model
aims to eradicate the stigma surrounding
both disabilities as well as homelessness.
According to the HOPWA 20 strategic
plan, “many PLWHA (people living with
HIV/AIDS) face multiple
life challenges
that present unique
barriers to accessing
housing, care
and services. These
challenges, especially
if compounded
by experiences of housing discrimination,
stigma or limited local affordable housing
options, often jeopardize individuals’
chances of remaining stably housed.”
HOPWA, or Housing Opportunities for
Persons With AIDS, was established as
part of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act of 1990. It provides
funding to eligible jurisdictions to address
the housing needs of persons living with
HIV/AIDS and their families.
A National Model
While The Havens still receives some
of its funding from HUD grants and federal
support, it is not currently receiving
HOPWA funds. In April, HUD announced a
$41 million grant program to fund efforts
that use housing as an effective structural
intervention to end HIV. “We know safe,
stable housing is critical for persons living
with HIV to best manage their health,”
said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge in a
press statement.
Programs across the country are
addressing these needs in similar ways.
Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service
Center (DESC) created a housing first
model that has been featured in HOPWA’s
“best practices series.” Founded in 1979,
the organization grew from providing
emergency shelter to being a nationally
recognized leader in innovative strategies
that end homelessness.
In 2020, they opened Hobson Place,
providing 85 affordable studio apartments
with supportive services on-site. A
second phase is expected to be complete
in early 2022 with physical and behavioral
healthcare clinics in
addition to 92 more
affordable housing
units. Hobson is part
of 18 supportive
housing facilities
owned and managed
by DESC in addition
to a scattered site housing program.
In New Orleans, the Belle Reve was
the first nonprofit assisted living facility
in the state to serve people with HIV.
The organization has expanded services
to provide affordable housing for aging
adults 62 years and older, but continue
to provide on-site case management and
at least forty percent of the apartment
units serve tenants earning no more
than 60 percent of area median income.
Throughout COVID-19, Belle Reve House
has kept the virus contained and kept the
residents safe in a city where transmission
rates are incredibly high.
The Southern U.S. accounts for approximately
45 percent of all people living
with an HIV diagnosis in the United States
and more than half (51 percent) of all new
diagnoses in 2018.
Community Support
During her time at RAIN, Warren
witnessed the impact that stigma has on
the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. Its
something that the national home improvement
Lowe’s recognizes as well. The
company is headquartered in Mooresville
and recently made the decision to aim its
Foundation’s funding efforts in and around
the immediate Charlotte Metro region.
After interacting with RAIN for some
time, the Lowe’s Foundation decided to
pay The Havens a visit in June, 2021. “We
want to make sure we have safe and affordable
housing,” Chief Financial Officer
for Lowe’s Dave Denton told WSOC-
TV. In a surprised check reveal, Lowes
Foundation awarded The Havens $200,000
in grant money and another $50,000 in
extra funds. The money will help renovate
25 accommodation units and common
areas of the property.
In 2020, the foundation announced
they would be allotting $9.25 million in
total to Charlotte-area charitable organizations.
Thus far, that has included Charlotte
Museum of History, Central Piedmont
Community College, Goodwill Industries
of the Southern Piedmont, Habitat for
Humanity of the Charlotte Region, Veterans
Bridge Home, A Roof Above, Innovation
Alley and Time Out Youth, among others.
The recognition of typically marginalized
voices is something Lowe’s continually
strives to achieve. The hardware and
home-improvement corporation is headed
by Marvin Ellison, who is one of only four
Black Fortune 500 CEOs.
As part of that commitment, $3.87
million is supporting homeownership in
Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties. Lowe’s
also donated $200,000 to LISC Charlotte
for neighborhood revitalization projects in
the Historic West End.
“Our immediate goal is to stabilize the
property,” Warren explains. “In the last
few years, when HUD funding no longer
covered [all] the issues The Havens was
having, our goal has become to take care
of the immediate needs that have risen,
while also working towards an attractive,
comforting feel for the residents.”
Warren, Robertson and the boards of
RAIN and The Havens maintain that when
someone has a place to live, it immediately
raises the bar on their quality of life by
providing comforts everyone seeks, resulting
in an improved sense of well-being and
overall happiness. : :
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