Affordable Housing for Whom??

Housing for Whom?

Workforce/Affordable housing is currently a hot issue in our County both within the municipalities and out in the county. We are told we need to give developers tax breaks in order to help provide workforce/affordable housing for police officers, teachers, firemen, and EMS workers. But what is the truth?

Let me start by saying this is not a piece about salaries. This is not an opinion about the level at which these public sector employees are paid. But their salaries figure into this discussion so here are just a few basic salaries.

The starting salary for a first-year deputy with absolutely no experience and with a high school diploma or GED is $52,201 per year. The lowest starting salary for a sheriff's office employee is the non-certified call taker with a high school diploma or GED is $40,066 per year. (https://gcso.org/careers/) The starting salary for a first-year school teacher with absolutely no experience and just a bachelor's degree is $47,738 per year. Other salaries are given here. EMS workers base pay for a first year no experience and no degrees is $35,294 per year with no overtime. There are too many fire departments to check.

The workforce/affordable housing is based on incomes and rents for some properties are set based on the family's total household income. Specifically, it is based on the area's median income (AMI). The 2022 AMI for Greenville County for a family of 4 is $85,200. Keep in mind this is total household income. Below is the breakdown for household sizes 1-8:

1 person	$59,650
2 people	$68,200
3 people	$76,700
4 people	$85,200
5 people	$92,050
6 people	$98,850
7 people	$105,650
8 people	$112,500

Now to get into one of these "affordable" housing units, you have to be at 80% AMI or below of the above numbers for total household income. Here are the 80% AMI numbers for the household sizes 1-8:

1 person	$47,750
2 people	$54,550
3 people	$61,350
4 people	$68,150
5 people	$73,650
6 people	$79,100
7 people	$84,550
8 people	$90,000

See Greenville County Income Limits.

So, the first-year sheriff's deputy living alone making $52,201/year would not qualify for the housing as his income would need to be $47,750 or below. The first-year single teacher living alone and making $47,738/year would barely qualify at the required $47,750 cap if they have no other income. The first year single EMS worker living alone would be the most likely to qualify if he doesn't make a significant amount of overtime as his starting salary is only $35,294 and the cap is $47,750 to qualify for this housing.

For the most part, the only way our police and teachers are going to qualify for this housing is if they are a family living on one person's income and then it depends on family size and the individual's income. The firemen and EMS workers qualifying are questionable depending on income and family size. (There are too many fire districts to check.)

So, what is the reality? This is a ploy to get us to think we are helping our public servants, many of whom are our front line of defense in emergencies. It is really designed to make politicians think they are doing something good for the community. But in reality, they are doing nothing but giving developers a tax break.

Another question that needs to be asked is what are they expecting these families to pay. According to the Greenville Housing Fund's website a family of 3 making $53,950 should be able to afford a house mortgage or rent payment in the amount of $1,350/month. If they are considered low and very low income (60% of AMI or below) the rent/mortgage would be $1,012/month. For the lowest incomes, the rent drops to $844/month. No wonder people can't get ahead. That's a substantial amount of income going to just the rent/mortgage portion of housing. These people are never going to get ahead in life even at these rates.

In the agreement with Project Woven/Village of West Greenville, LLC, the most recent special source credit agreement passed by the Greenville County Council, we learn that only 44 out of 214 of the housing units are available to the people who would qualify for workforce/affordable housing. That is not much.

In this agreement, we also learn that the owner will get a 50% reduction in his property taxes for the next 20 years after he has done the required infrastructure investments. To put that in real terms, there is a newer set of apartments that in 2022 paid $118,399.54 in county property taxes. A 50% reduction would mean that they would pay only $59,199.77. Over a 20-year period, that is a loss of at least $1,183,995.40 to the County's coffers without figuring in reassessment, etc. That is a huge difference that must be made up by someone. Who makes this up? Anyone who pays property taxes in Greenville County.

Don't let a politician or a developer tell you that these tax breaks don't affect your taxes. It will. Remember that according to the most recent budget fight they had to have additional tax money from each of us to provide basic services. We were also told that new development does not bring in enough to make up the difference. (Those who have been reading from the start of this battle know that I have proven all of that wrong.) But by giving tax breaks to the developers that is that much less money they have coming in for services they must provide. Instead, you and I must pick up that bill.

Remember too that the Greenville County Council gave "affordable" housing $4,000,000 in this current year's budget for operations. We have yet to be told which organizations that is going to and what expenses it is covering in those organizations. We do know that some of these nonprofits pay salaries to employees that are well over $100,000/year while telling us and low-income people what we should be able to afford. Frankly, I don't think they have a clue, because it is more than numbers on a paper.

So just remember this little scheme isn't all it is being sold as. Some people are still getting rich off of the taxpayer while others may get a little help, but not much.

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