Category: Local Government

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HR Packs a Punch with Small Gestures!

Meet Chatham County’s Human Resources Director, Carolyn Miller.

funny photo of HR Director Carolyn Miller dressed as Dorothy for Halloween
Carolyn Miller: our fun, lively Human Resources Director

On Thursday last week, I had the opportunity to shadow Carolyn.  I learned more about how conflicts are managed, HR consultations, new employee orientation, and all the many things our HR department does and manages. But of course, I got to learn more about the little things that Chatham County’s HR department does that makes a big impact on employees. 

Little things, Big impact

Thing 1: Promotions are celebrated by baked goods. Chatham County employs over 500 employees and HR makes sure to celebrate each promotion. Every time that there is a promotion in the County, the four HR staff make a basket of baked goods for that employee.  This is definitely a nice touch that shows that HR cares and is proud of you!

photo of powerpoint from new employee orientation that says diversity, equity and inclusion
Picture from new employee orientation of the beginning of the diversity, equity and inclusion portion

Thing 2: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are embedded into new employee orientation. Chatham County’s HR department makes sure that diversity, equity and inclusion is something that you hear from the beginning of your career with Chatham County. Carolyn reviews key definitions and how every individual’s culture impacts their reality, starting with her own story. Carolyn stresses the importance of these values and the continued work that everyone must engage in to overcome our implicit biases.

Thing 3: Desk chairs and colors were intentionally selected to impact organizational image. You are probably wondering what HR has to do with desk chairs and colors. Apparently, a good deal! Carolyn Miller told me that she and the previous County Manager intentionally picked a medium oak colored desk and cloth-backed chairs for their offices to promote a more welcoming space. She said that they steered clear of mahogany desks and leather chairs because that created a more ostentatious look. Moral of the story is that HR played an important role in being intentional in how they crafted the County Manager’s space.

picture of HR staff dressed in wizard of oz costumes
Halloween 2018: HR staff dresses as the Wizard of Oz

Thing 4: HR + the County Manager judge an annual County-wide employee Halloween costume contest. First and foremost, the HR department does reverse trick-or-treating and goes to each department in the County to pass out candy on Halloween. In addition to that, the departments (as individuals or groups) can also enter the costume contests! I saw the pictures from years before…Chatham County employees go ALL OUT.

Thing 4: An employee-generated policy idea became HR policy & it is the only one of its kind in the STATE. In the County, there is a Personnel Committee where employees are selected to represent employees to HR staff. The Personnel Committee presented HR with the idea of a “Tobacco Free Petty Leave Policy.” Petty leave for those who don’t know is “free time off” granted by your employer to use for running errands or whatever you want. Chatham County does grant each employee an allotted amount of petty leave, but if you are a non-tobacco user (verified from your medical provider) then you are granted additional petty leave known as tobacco free petty leave. If you are a tobacco user that enrolls in a cessation program, you are granted some tobacco free petty leave as well. This is the only policy like it in the state and it was completely generated by employees and accepted by HR. This shows HR’s commitment to employee health.

photo of goody bag filled with tootsie rolls for 2017 employee appreciation day that says great serivice is how we roll - happy employee appreciation day 2017!
2017 Employee Appreciation Day

Thing 6: HR marks “Employee Appreciation Day” and visits every department with small gifts. On this day in March, the HR department and the County Manager go to every department and office to pass out goodies and talk with folks to show their appreciation. This is a great way for people to interact with the County Manager.

Thing 7: Annual Salsa and Chili Contests for employees. Every year in the fall, County employees can also compete in the annual salsa and chili contests. The chili that won last year had an unexpected twist – CHOCOLATE. Apparently, it was a mole (Mexican dish)-inspired chili recipe.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about how Chatham County’s Human Resources Department gets creative to make employees happy and proud to work for the County.

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COMMUNICATION IS KEY with TRANSIT LEFTOVERS (COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSIT WEEKS)

For those of you either disappointed that I didn’t post last week or because I didn’t post about Transit, hopefully this double-header will make up for the wrong that has been done.

Example of an electric bus.

Last week, I spent an enlightening week with Transit. In addition to doing some Excel projects for Transit that will hopefully save some time and effort in the future, I was able to research busing options that Salisbury may be interested in pursuing in the future. For starters, I looked at electric buses. These vehicles present a challenge in that they save money and the environment over time, but the upfront cost of the vehicle is significantly higher than a gas or diesel vehicle, and it requires extra infrastructure and maintenance training for the electric batteries. Other vehicles I researched were smaller shuttles (electric and gas) that may be less expensive but still cater to Salisbury’s ridership, and family vans that could potentially be used like a local government Uber. All of these ideas sound interesting and worthwhile, but how can you predict what your city will need years down the road (small pun, not sorry), considering these vehicles are a long-term investment.

This just in, let’s talk about Communications!

Communications really is the key, especially to a local government that wants its citizens to be aware of what is going on and how their local government can benefit them. For example, the Salisbury Police Department has some really cool initiatives to help reduce crime and build the relationship between Police and residents (they have a Police Ice Cream Truck!!!), but no citizens would know of these efforts if communications wasn’t there to get the message out. All that is to say, your initiative/program could be the greatest in the world, but it means nothing if it isn’t communicated to and understood by the people it is meant to help.

One of my favorite projects this week was working on an article about Fleet personnel who hit a huge goal in Emergency Vehicle Technician certification. While writing the article is challenging due to the difference in style from this blog, where I basically ramble on and yet you are STILL reading, but it is rewarding knowing that even just a few citizens will see that city staff are trying to better serve the city. Plus, you get to show staff that you appreciate their hard work and accomplishments.

Filming for Salisbury Now.

A final cool project was a video I helped on (I held the boom mic so I am kind of a big deal) for Salisbury Now, which is a television program about what is going on in the City, produced by the communications department and aired on local access TV. These videos can also be viewed online, and are such a neat way to get the information to people like me, who would rather watch a video than read a newsletter.

That’s all for now! Tune in next week for Public Services, and maybe I will fill a pothole!

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MEMO: Chatham Organizational Quirks

**DIsclaimer: if you recently finished year 1 of the mpa program, it may be too soon to see another memo. if this post is triggering, please click the small ‘x’ in the upper right hand corner. Other than that – welcome to this week’s blog. Surprise! It’s written in memo format. every MPA-er knows that memos are life. So, here ya go!

TO:                  MPA Matters Readers

FROM:         Courtney Cooper-Lewter, MSW/MPA Intern 

DATE:           10 July 2019

SUBJECT:  Chatham County Manager’s Office Organizational Culture & Quirks

The purpose of this memo is to outline some of the organizational quirks of the Chatham County Manager’s Office, from an intern’s perspective. 

BACKGROUND

HAPPY TWO MONTH-IVERSARY to me and the Chatham County Manager’s Office! I have spent the last two months really diving deep into understanding Chatham culture and the Manager’s Office, in general. I am very grateful to be working in an office that embraces me as part of the team, not just an intern.  Plus, this office is quirky and eclectic and awesome! So in this memo, I will discuss some of the key things that make this office’s culture different.

DISCUSSION

According to Management Study Guide, a healthy organizational culture increases motivation, unifies, and brings out the best in employees. So far, there are three aspects of the Chatham County Manager’s Office that make it stand out as a great place to work.

      1. Christmas in July: Yep, that happened. Our awesome Safety and Risk Manager, Marilyn Grant, surprised everyone in the office with a gift + Christmas card on July 1st. The gifts were thoughtful and pretty spot on! For my gift, I got a pretty scarf! I have no idea how she knew I loved scarves. A heavy coffee drinker in our office, who shall remain unnamed, got a cute monogrammed coffee tumbler. After some further investigation, I found out that this is her yearly tradition in the office. I was pleasantly surprised and it was a great mid-summer pick me up!
      2. Eclectic Knowledge: You would be surprised to know that the majority of the folks working in Chatham County Manager’s Office don’t have an MPA or even a government educational background. Our Budget Director has a PhD in psychology. Our Human Resources Director has a history background. And, our County Manager has an environmental engineering degree from NC State! We also have folks that are experienced in furniture sales, pharmaceutical companies, and have basic law enforcement training (BLET) all in one office. This shows that Chatham County Manager’s Office is a place for everybody (and where just about any question can be answered).
      3. HR on the Ground: Chatham County’s Human Resources department is awesome and housed in the County Manager’s Office! It seems like the HR staff individually knows every 500+ employees in the County. It is obvious that they make an effort to learn about new employees and be approachable. My office is right across the hall from the Benefits Manager’s office and people pop in all of the time to ask her questions and just talk. I am convinced she has magical powers because she remembers tons of details about people’s lives, like where their kid goes to school or a vacation someone took recently. A few weeks ago, the HR Director cleaned my office as part of job shadowing of the one of the maintenance workers. HR invites folks out for lunch for check-ins. The HR Director even bought us lunch on July 5th as a celebration of being at work the day after the holiday. Later this week, I will be shadowing the HR Director, so tune in next week to see what I learn!

FINAL VERDICT

This final verdict is in….Chatham County Manager’s Office is a warm, welcoming, and fun place to work. 10 out of 10, would recommend!

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Connecting the dots

Over the past few weeks, I have conducted 26 interviews and attended eleven community meetings in an attempt to gather important information needed to push the human relations initiative forward. The surprising thing is that my interviews have yielded slightly different information than expected. Which, for the record, has not been a bad thing. It just creates more alternative pathways for a human relations initiative.

I’ve spent the past week, catching up and recovering from the many meetings and interviews. I have been reviewing notes, inputting notes, updating spreadsheets, and creating more spreadsheets. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a spreadsheet with all of my interview questions and notes so that responses are easy to locate. After attending some sessions at, what I like to call, YouTube University (regular YouTube), I figured out the best and most straightforward way to begin coding my interviews. As I am digging through my research…it feels a little something like this…

gif of moving dots that connect and change shapes, then disconnect and connect again into different shapes

Obviously, there are some clear connections between the results of the interviews and feedback from community meetings. The challenge is that there are so many different ways to connect and present the results. In addition to the results, I asked each interviewee if they knew of any community members that may be able to support my research. Thanks to a little bit of snowball sampling, I now have a list of secondary contacts which will provide me with more findings. So, I’ve got spreadsheets on spreadsheets on spreadsheets.

gif of Steve Urkel looking overwhelmed
Me…looking at all of my spreadsheets

Even though it feels slightly overwhelming, I know that as I continue to dig deeper it will get better! Plus, since I already have a spreadsheet system in place, it’ll be easier moving forward with my results.

I am glad that I finally have a documentation system that I feel comfortable with. But now, I am also making a slight transition…I will begin looking into the research. I have tons of topics that I want to review to see how they apply to human relations, public interactions with local government, and diversity initiatives. To start, I will begin with digging deeper into Chatham County history by:

  • renting DVDs from the Chatham County Public Library on the County’s History
  • talking with historical associations, churches, and families about Chatham County
  • reading up on the History of Chatham through existing reports

Even though things are shifting, I will still have interviews and meetings to attend. I will also be shadowing a department head for a day too! So, things should be getting pretty interesting this month.

I look forward to updating you next week!

gif of waving blowing kiss

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Week Eight: From Local Government to Presidential Candidate

Local government has many incredible leaders, but the 2020 Democratic debates showed just how many people are hoping to make the jump from the local to federal level. Although Mayor Buttigeg and Mayor de Blasio are the only candidates running that are still in local government, 8 of the 20 candidates who debated this past week got their start there. That’s 40% of the candidates!

Image result for yay gif

The eight folks representing local government during these debates are: Cory Booker (former Mayor of Newark, NJ) , Pete Buttigeg (Mayor of South Bend, IN), Julián Castro (former Mayor of San Antonio, TX), Bill de Blasio (Mayor of New York City, NY), John Hickenlooper (former Mayor of Denver, CO), Beto O’Rourke (former Mayor Pro Tempore of El Paso, TX), Bernie Sanders (former Mayor of Burlington, VT), and Eric Swalwell (former City Councilor of Dublin, CA).

While I was watching these debates I couldn’t help but analyze some of their roles. As some of you may know, most local governments have either a Mayor-Council or Council-Manager form of government. In Mayor-Council governments the Mayor is in charge of day-to-day activities. One example of this is New York City, NY. Whereas, in the Council-Manager form, city managers are tasked with these activities. The City of Durham functions as a Council-Manager system.

In a recent article in CityLab, several leaders discussed their experiences in local government, and how this would inform them in the role as President of the United States. Hickenlooper said, “I do think that having been a mayor provides wonderful training and experience of finding ways to bring people together and achieving goals and accomplishments through that unity.” One book called, “If Mayors Ruled the World,” points out that local governments are capable of changing the world because they rely on collaboration and interdependence. This type of leadership will be necessary going forward as politics get more complicated.

Image result for leslie knope local government

Personally, Governor Hickenlooper’s words were encouraging to me, because it shows that people are realizing the change-makers that exist in local government. More people are understanding our dedication to creating positive communities, and our drive to further this.

No matter what happens, we all know the best Mayor of all time is Mayor Max of Idyllwild, California.

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WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SIDEWALKS (WITH ENGINEERING)

An actual sidewalk in downtown Salisbury

First off, congratulations for looking at a picture of a sidewalk and thinking “that looks interesting” – you may be in a small but important group of people!

The truth is, sidewalks (like many local government services) are often overlooked or forgotten about because they aren’t the flashiest topic. However, a lot of foresight and planning is put into these sidewalks by people, like the engineers in Salisbury, so that the citizens they serve can get around a little bit easier. For example, sidewalks are built on a 2° slant so that stormwater will run into the gutter, instead of collecting in a puddle that hungrily awaits your brand new shoes. Further, the incline of a sidewalk ramp cannot be greater than 8° for wheelchair access. Oh, and the truncated domes that stick out right before a crosswalk – those help people with vision impairments know when they are about to cross the road. Admittedly, I think most of these features are required for ADA compliance; however, I felt it was worth pointing out the small details that go into making everyone’s commute a little easier. Sidewalks – you don’t think about them (or their features) until they aren’t there.

Just so that you don’t think life in Engineering is all about sidewalks, I’ll move on to some GIS (Geographic Information System). You may recall that I used GIS while with the Planning Department. Well, here it is again, and in case the message hasn’t come across – GIS IS HELPFUL IN MANY WAYS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, SO GO LEARN HOW TO USE IT! Seriously, if you can take a class, you should. I plan on taking one next spring myself.

GIS with Curb and Gutter Layer and Aerial Imagery

Ironically, one of my GIS projects involved…drumroll please…SIDEWALKS (right when you thought you had escaped). The Engineering department is updating the GIS Sidewalk layer to show sidewalks that have been added since the last aerial imagery was taken by Salisbury in 2014. Using the newer aerial imagery from 2018, I traced out every new sidewalk on public streets that I could find (cross your fingers that I got them all), which can then be viewed for various purposes, like tracking sidewalk cleaning.

For my other GIS project, we move slightly off the sidewalk…and onto the curb. Actually though, I used the aerial imagery (and Google Street View when harder to see) to highlight every Salisbury street that has a curb or gutter. This layer (pictured below) will eventually be used to help with street cleaning, insuring that every known curb/gutter and corresponding drain are free of debris so that the stormwater system can work properly.

Close-up of GIS Curb and Gutter Layer
The Entire Curb and Gutter Layer for Salisbury with Stormwater features marked by icons

Engineering may not be in my wheelhouse, but I certainly enjoyed my time in the department. At the very least, it made me appreciate the little things that make a town better for the people that live in it. And yes, I do like sidewalks! What gave it away?

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Week Seven: The Fellowship of the Interns

Image result for fellowship of the ring

One of the most important parts of any internship is the network you make along the way. Working with the Budget & Management Services Department and getting to know everyone better has been incredible. After a few weeks, I realized I also wanted to get to know other City interns as well. Although I love working with my department members, I wanted to gain more insight into what other folks in a similar experience to myself are learning. The Assistant Director of BMS recommended that I send out an email to all department leaders asking for their interns’ contact information. Thankfully, all of the department heads were excited to have their interns involved, and quickly shared their names with me.

We now have a cohort of around ten interns within the City of Durham. We come from a variety of departments, including: General Services, Community Development, Budget & Management Services, City Manager’s Office, and Economic Workforce Development. Everyone has unique interests in local government, and we are all hopeful that this experience will allow us to learn more about how local government functions.

Image result for gifs about friends

We had our meeting earlier this week, and it was an incredible experience. Each member had fascinating insights into local government, and we all found ways that our work tied together. For example, one intern is working on a project with General Services that will increase trails in the Durham area. He was discussing the financials of the project and budgeting for the improvements, and as I listened I realized just how much I had learned about the fiscal year budget process. It was really incredible to have conversations with folks just as nerdy about local government as myself, and I cannot wait to see where our careers take us.

One of my fellow interns is within the Office of Economic Workforce Development, and she is learning about Durham’s policies on minority and women-owned businesses. Her assignment is to find data on these businesses and create an open data portal for folks in the community to learn more about locations to shop. One of the most beneficial things she has taken away is how complicated gathering data can be, but that community partners can make the process easier.

As we learned about in Human Resources this past semester, the people you surround yourself with at work can change your own experience. Creating relationships in any position is essential to the well-being of yourself and others. I think that by connecting with other interns I won’t just have support from budget staff but also from others in the same career stage as myself. This is crucial to a local government career because as you talk with others about the field, you learn more about changes that can be made, which can lead to positive changes in your community.

Image result for leslie knope on teams

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Diversity Buzz

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become standard vocabulary for many organizations to include in their missions, presentations, and conversations around their organizational work. As public servants, these should be organizational values. In our work, we serve a wide range of people with varying backgrounds and cultures. But, the struggle comes from moving beyond the use of the words and building them into organizational action and culture. So this week, I got to experience some of the ways that Chatham County is working towards building diversity, equity, and inclusion into organizational action and culture.

The first event that I attended was the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) training for the Chatham Public Health Department. The training was conducted by the NC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities. The training was a good combination of self-reflection about our backgrounds, activities to push us out of our comfort zone, and discussion to apply this knowledge to our work moving forward. Below is a slide from the training that mentions the drivers and determinants of health, meaning the things that impact health disparities. What stood out to me most was how the trainers pushed us to think about how these drivers and determinants impact the people we serve in Chatham County.

picture of a powerpoint slide from the CLAS training that says the drivers and determinants of health. it says social, economic, environmental, ecological, and cultural factors can contribute to drivers and determinants of health. It states environmental, education, housing, transportation, health care, food & nutrition, violence, and poverty as social determinants.
NCDHHS, NC OMHHD CLAS Training Slide

This past Saturday, Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE) and the Chatham County Library hosted an event celebrating Juneteenth. For those who do not know, Juneteenth is an important holiday for many people in the African American community. It stems from the end of the Civil War. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery (as we traditionally define it). However, African Americans in Texas remained enslaved for an additional two and a half years. On June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers made their way to Texas declaring the freedom of African Americans. For many in the African American community, Juneteenth is a day of remembrance, reflection, and celebration of the actual end of slavery. The event hosted by CORE and the library was titled a celebration of African American Culture and Resilience. It was an amazing space to share history and create community. The event hosted speakers that talked about “African Civilation before Slavery” (Dr. Charles Johnson, NCCU), Human Trafficking in the Historical Context of U.S. Slavery” (Robin Colbert & Christy Croft, NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault) and “Native Americans, Africans & Slavery in NC” (Dr. Arwin Smallwood, NC A&T University). I am thankful that the community was able to have access to such rich knowledge.

picture of the Juneteenth event
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Watkins-Cruz of the Juneteenth Event

And to top it all off, I attended a session from the Chatham County Leadership Academy. There were attendees from all different departments in the County like emergency personnel, officers, nurse supervisors, and a nutritionist. This particular session was Cultural Competency Part II taught by our Human Resources Director, Carolyn Miller. It was a two-hour session that discussed privilege, institutional racism, and implicit bias (system I vs system II thinking). Most importantly, Carolyn Miller talked about how we have to dig deeper when we incorporate diversity into our workforce. She described that it has to go beyond just representative bureaucracy (though important), but that we need to begin to ask the WHY questions. It was a really insightful session that incorporated a lot of great information around racial diversity, equity, and inclusion to push those working in the County to create a more inclusive workplace.

Chatham County definitely has room to grow, as do many other institutions. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the commitment of different folks in the community working towards making diversity, equity, and inclusion not only espoused values, but also enacted values in the County.

picture of me, Stephanie, and Darrell in a giant chair at lunch
From left to right: Me, Stephanie Watkins-Cruz (Chatham County Policy Analyst), and Darrell Butts (Chatham County Budget Analyst) at lunch after the Cultural Competency Part II session.

P.S. I have found my favorite lunch spot! It’s Mi Cancun, where this lovely photo was taken. We can get a good, hearty and YUMMY lunch for under $7. (Also, do you spot any UNC-Chapel Hill MPA alums???)

Anyways, I look forward to updating you again next week!

 

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THERE, I ADMIN IT!!!

Don’t be fooled – this is NOT City Manager Bailey. It’s just Ben Wyatt on Parks and Recreation (tv show) after becoming City Manager

This was it – my week with Administration. I try not to play favorites, but I am earning a Master of Public ADMINISTRATION degree, so I forgive myself. Plus, I was very excited to learn from City Manager Bailey, a highly regarded City Manager and a great example to follow if you want to be a City Administrator someday (like me).

Monday featured a Management Team meeting in preparation for Tuesday night’s Council Meeting, when the FY20 (Fiscal Year 2019-2020) budget was to be adopted along with an agenda full of other action items. City Manager Bailey went around the room to check with every department, making sure not only that they were good to go, but also that he knew about any potential issues with the council or with people attending the meeting. For example, a Pickleball versus Tennis debate rages on in the City (it’s a long story that I will hopefully get to during my Parks and Rec post), and the Parks and Recreation Director made note that some people may use the public comment period to discuss that debate and how it affected the budget to be adopted.

Monday night, the City hosted a Public Hearing on “Fame,” a statue in the middle of downtown (and actually in the median of a main road, so really in the middle) that is owned by the Daughters of the Confederacy group and has made groups in town uncomfortable. As someone who was on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus when Silent Sam fell, I was very familiar with the debate. We will see what Council decides to do (or not do) after hearing public comment for 2 hours, but I will give my praise to the people of Salisbury for being civil and neighborly despite such a divisive issue.

Tuesday, I was able to shadow and talk with City Manager Bailey. After a check-in conference call with the Police Department (who are having an ironic problem of not getting grants because crime is getting too low to qualify), he had a conversation with a council member wanting to make sure they were fully prepared for the Council Meeting. At the Council Meeting, City Manager Bailey and staff presented the budget with 3 different options in regards to what Council wanted to do with the extra revenue gained by NOT lowering the tax rate, which I thought was an interesting way to make things simpler for council. The budget was adopted (WOOT WOOT) and will be posted here by July 1.

One important note worth mentioning, especially for future City Managers: whenever Council criticized something, Mr. Bailey was adamant that he was recommending the budget because he supported every decision in it, never coming close to blaming staff.

One cool project I have been working on all week is researching community engagement done by local governments across the United States…and a few in Canada. Salisbury has a few great programs, including Community Engagement Walks on Fridays and Chit, Chat, and Chew events, all in different neighborhoods throughout the City. However, staff want to know how they can reach more citizens to increase participation at Council Meetings and other community events. One cool option many cities are doing is to use online engagement, especially through a single website that lists all projects and events. This allows engagement from people who have tough schedules or simply don’t want to go to a Council Meeting (I understand that others don’t love them as much as me). Another interesting option is Participatory Budgeting (PB), where local governments allocate money to projects submitted and voted on by citizens. In fact, we had a conference call with the City of Durham this week, which allocated $2.4 million to PB projects, and lets students under the age of 18 vote as well!

If you want to know more about PB or the City of Durham, go check out Hallee Haygood’s blog! Otherwise, you can stick with me and come back next week for some engineering!!! (seriously though, you should check out the other blogs!)

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There’s housing, but is it affordable?

a row of three homes built by Chatham Habitat for Humanity

In my role at the Chatham County Manager’s Office, I am learning about the different challenges that the community faces. One of the key challenges that I have heard is the issue of affordable housing in the County. Since then, I have attended two housing meetings in the last few weeks, the Housing Implementation Group meeting and the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee meeting. They both provided me with a clearer picture of how local government and community agencies make plans to move projects forward to address housing equity challenges in the County. But before all of that exciting stuff, let’s provide some context for Chatham County’s affordable housing crisis.

According to a 2017 study conducted by the Triangle J Council of Governments, Chatham’s housing issue boils down to three core issues: supply, quality, and affordability. There is a 2,000 unit gap in affordable units in the County. Of those 2,000, about 1,400 are needed for individuals earning 0-30% of the area’s median income. The naturally occurring affordable housing is mostly aging mobile homes or other housing stock that is in need of repairs. Because of this large need, a substantial portion of Chatham County households are cost-burdened, meaning that they are paying over 30% of their monthly income on housing.

These issues impact various Chatham communities in different ways. Hence, the equity issue.

The Aging Population

Like in many other counties, there is a lack of housing for our lowest earning residents. Chatham County is unique in that it has a large aging population. In our county, older adult households have a lower median income than the general population. Those that earn below 30% often cannot find housing that is decent or affordable so they may be forced to leave their homes or stay in unhealthy and unsafe living conditions. The aging population may have mobility restrictions, health needs, and limited or no active income to ensure they age in their homes affordably.So those serving aging populations and working on affordable housing have to create different strategies targeted for this population.

photo of a women at the Council on Aging Senior Center sitting in rocking chairs
From the Council on Aging’s Senior Center

The Housing Implementation Plan meeting was focused on the Aging Plan to support the aging population. There are other implementation plan meetings, that focus on the other issues that impact the larger aging population in Chatham. This meeting had key players representing and serving the aging community in the County. They discussed how they could reach the greater aging community and gather information about their needs. It was pretty cool watching them brainstorm. I also got to see them evaluate and re-evaluate their strategic goals and deadlines. I could also tell their commitment to the work.

Emergency Housing

picture of the entrance of the Bellemont Pointe Apartments, one affordable housing complex in Chatham
Bellemont Pointe Apartments, one of the few affordable housing developments in Chatham

The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee meeting was focused on the Chatham County Housing Trust Fund. These folks are committed to creating affordable housing opportunities in the County. From our County Manager’s staff, we had our Policy Analyst, Stephanie Watkins-Cruz. (You may remember her from my celebrity post a few weeks ago.) In addition, we had folks representing various fields such as realtors, community members, non-profit leaders, etc.

Random fun fact about me – I am really interested in policy! So, this meeting was really cool because the Committee was working on the Chatham County Housing Trust Fund & Location policy. Stephanie proposed a modification to the policy to address the County’s new role in providing some emergency housing funding. The best part was watching all of these key players in housing in Chatham County discuss the emergency fund’s location, the reasons for access, the protections, and policy.

Chatham Affordable Housing WINS

First and foremost, the fact that the County now has a Housing Trust Fund is a huge win! With this fund in existence, nonprofits who are creating or preserving affordable housing for families and individuals in need have a source of funding. Additionally, there is now a small allotment for emergency housing needs such as emergency shelter or displacement.

Even more excitingly, the Housing Trust Fund has OFFICIALLY deployed its first low-interest loan to the developer of the historic Henry Siler School to create more affordable housing. The plan is to have 44 new units on this property with shared community space. So, the inside scoop is that the core of the Historic Henry Siler School will be preserved and potentially turned into a shared community space. This project aims to both respect the history and meaning of the school and addresses an important community need. In Chatham, there aren’t many smaller units (1-2 bedrooms). Less than 1% of the housing stock in Chatham county is a 1 bedroom or studio. So this development will include 22 1-bedroom rental units priced at $355-$575, and 22 2-bedroom rental units priced at $423-$675.

gif of a high five

I know that I came into the Chatham County affordable housing game a little late, but I am really excited to see these projects moving forward.  Shout out to all the awesome folks working hard to improve housing equity.