FORUM EXAMINES REGION'S HOUSING NEEDS

A variety of housing issues were discussed Friday at a forum on the campus of Southeast Missouri University, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chapter of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare (MASW). The MASW is an organization of social welfare workers.

Roy Pierce, director of the St. Louis office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, discussed the role of his office in providing low income housing and some of the limits to what the agency could provide.

Pierce said he had been talking with people in Cape Girardeau who have expressed interest in having public housing in the city, but noted it would be unlikely HUD would be able to provide any more than 30 units initially with a housing project here.

Sarah Hunter, administrative assistant for the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation that serves six counties in the Bootheel, discussed problems with homelessness in Southeast Missouri. As chairman of the Bootheel Homeless Coalition, Hunter explained that homeless people in Southeast Missouri are much different from homeless in larger cities.

She also pointed out that in January through March of this year, 361 homeless people were identified by the coalition, many of them single women with children.

Rick Murray, supervisor of the Housing Inspectors Office for the city of Cape Girardeau, outlined the need for minimum housing standards in the city and some of the problems his staff has had in getting approval for standards.

Murray explained that the City Council will consider the minimum standards Monday night, and claimed the standards are quite minimal.

Michael Sterling, president of the Cape Girardeau Chapter of the NAACP, spoke out in favor of the minimum standards and said passing the plan would be a recognition there is a housing problem in the city.

"We have identified 355 homeless families in Cape so far and there are many more out there," said Sterling. "We need to start recognizing our problem before we can start working on solutions to the problem ... this is not a black or white issue, this is for the whole city."

Sterling was also critical of the time it was taking to get the standards approved.

But Pierce explained minimum housing standards involved a political process and there was some natural concern from landlords that the standards would increase their costs of operating.

Murray added, "when you start talking about these standards, property owners become scared about what the regulations will be. The progress is slow because - whether warranted or not - these fears make us go slow."

Pierce and Murray agreed that minimum standards could potentially decrease available housing in the city.

"Minimum standards is a double edged sword," said Murray. "This will close down some units, and some people will be displaced."

But Murray added, "Ninety-nine percent of the homes will meet this standard. It is a very minimum standard."

In his comments, Pierce pointed out that HUD provides more than low income assisted housing programs, and also provides insurance, housing for low income people and those that pay the market rate, and assists people who are discriminated against under federal housing laws.

"The perception that HUD is just for poor people is wrong," said Pierce. "All we do is give money and see that it is managed properly; we do not physically manage anything."

Under the 1988 Civil Rights law, Pierce said the definition of housing discrimination was expanded to include children under the age of 18 and handicapped. HUD provides some legal counsel to individuals who feel they have been discriminated against. HUD also has the authority to issue fines.

In order to have a public housing project, Pierce said local support from landlords and builders is essential. Also, other funding resources have to be researched, including Community Development Block Grant funds.

Another requirement is that low income, minority people cannot be concentrated in a particular site. "It has been proven that low income housing works better at scattered sites," said Pierce.

Pierce said there are a lot of myths about HUD supported housing, including a belief that HUD housing is just for blacks. After World War II, Pierce explained that public housing was initially started to provide transitional housing for people, not lifelong housing.

In explaining problems with homeless people in Southeast Missouri, Hunter said the definition of homeless is "a person who has no fixed, stable night time residence."

In this area, "We don't have people sleeping in cars, parks, and cardboard boxes, like cities, but we do have people in our six counties who are homeless ... single parent mothers with small kids are what we see the most, due to divorce, separation, or the loss of jobs."

Hunter described a homeless shelter opened about five years ago in Sikeston, which has six motel-style units. There are also other homeless shelters in Sikeston, Malden and Kennett who work with the coalition.

Before anyone is admitted to the shelter in Sikeston, Hunter said background checks are done with police and there is an effort to provide services for 30 days and help get them them back on their own.

"Our major objective is homeless prevention," said Hunter of the coalition. "Education and jobs are the two basic things they need the most."

Murray said the minimum housing standards being considered for Cape Girardeau use the BOCA Code because everything in the code is legal and it is a national code that fits into the city's program.

"This vehicle, or something like it, is definitely needed in Cape," said Murray. He added that many of the city's older homes are now used for rental property and some are in need of repair. Minimum standards provide a tool for the city to use for getting the homes repaired.

Murray said the minimum housing standards imposed by HUD for rental property it helps support are considerably stronger than those being proposed for the city of Cape.