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Center for Housing and Community Studies

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

Yes! Weekly: Researchers examine link between housing and health

Posted on January 18, 2017

On October 2, 2016, Allison Stalberg of Yes! Weekly covered Greensboro’s Invest Health initiative:

“Local researchers will focus on the effect of substandard housing on incidence of asthma. Research by the NC Department of Health Services found that nearly a third of children in North Carolina visited the ER or Urgent Care due to asthma last year. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America also found that Greensboro’s asthma rate is influenced by higher than average poverty and uninsured rates.

“Director of the Center for Housing and Community Studies, Dr. Stephen Sills, has been involved with Greensboro’s Invest Health along with the Director of Community Outreach for Cone Health, Kathy Colville.

“We can really think of it in terms of the emergency department is probably one of the most expensive places for us to pay for housing, which is an interesting way to think about it,” said Colville. “We don’t often think about the fact that we might actually be paying for the consequences for unhealthy or unsafe housing in the emergency department.”

Read the full story here.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

Yes! Weekly: What’s driving the affordable housing deficit in Greensboro?

Posted on January 18, 2017

On October 4, 2016, CHCS Director Stephen Sills penned a column for Yes! Weekly:

“North Carolina is now the ninth most populous state in the country. Over the course of the last decade, the population growth has been twice that of the nation. The 12-county region of the Piedmont Triad has grown to a population that now exceeds 1.6 million residents. At the heart of the Piedmont is one of the most sprawling metropolitan areas in the country. The Greensboro-Winston-Salem–High Point Combined Statistical Area (CSA) covers an area of nearly 1,000 square miles. At its heart is Greensboro, with a population of about 282,000; the third-largest city by population in North Carolina. Between the 2000 and 2010 census, the City of Greensboro grew 20.4 percent. This population growth, largely driven by working-aged and retired adults moving from other US cities to North Carolina, has created considerable pressure on the local housing market. The result is sustained (and post-recession rebounding) market values of most single-family homes, rising rental prices and construction of new high-rent housing for students and professionals.

“The rental market has been especially strained as moderate and low-income homeowners lost their homes to foreclosures during the recession. Now nearly half of households in Greensboro are renters and, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there is a shortfall between rental supply and demand. This demand has driven the rental vacancy rate down from a 2008 high of 14.6% to just 8.8% in 2014, the lowest it’s been in over a decade. In other words, 93 percent of available rental units are occupied at any given time, resulting in very little selection for apartment seekers and the ability for landlords to charge a premium for their properties. With such a tight market, there is little incentive for landlords to discount rents or even spend extra on maintaining low-rent units. There is always a renter to fill a vacancy.”

Read or listen to the full story here.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

UNCG Habitat for Humanity Chapter: Build Event

Posted on December 07, 2016

The UNCG Habitat for Humanity Chapter hosted a build event last Saturday, December 3rd. The build projects are essential pieces to the University as a whole. The work that Habitat does for these communities help to create trusting relationships between Greensboro communities and UNCG. The projects are not only beneficial to families but also to the students. Members of UNCG Habitat Club are able to improve leadership abilities, attain cultural competence and enhance their capacity for skill building.

Francheska Elliott, a member of the UNCG Habitat club, explained, “These projects create more than just a home, they create a bond between community and academics.”

The next build event is Saturday, January 21, 2017, 7:45am – 3:30pm. Volunteers will help prep the roof (trusses) for installation and setup safety equipment (scaffold).

If you would like to volunteer, please register using the link & directions: http://tinyurl.com/gul4uek

Click “Sign In” in the upper right-hand corner to “Register” and create your username and password. Enter the join code CUNCGCC. After your account is created you will be taken to the events page; click “Sign Up” on the date(s) you plan to serve. An email confirmation will immediately follow. Please call Chris Tippens at 336.707.8050 if you have questions.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

Food for the greater community

Posted on November 22, 2016

Trying to make sure everyone in our community has access to quality food is no small task. But a multidisciplinary approach may be the key for Guilford County.

Dr. Marianne LeGreco is a faculty member in Communication Studies, and Dr. Stephen Sills in Sociology, but their work with the Center for Housing and Community Studies allows them to focus on local issues in collaboration with faculty and students from at least six other UNCG departments. Those include Geography, Nutrition, Public Health, Computer Science, the Nursing School and Environmental Studies and Sustainability. Among the Center’s nonprofit partners are the Guilford County Cooperative Extension Office, Greensboro Farmers Market and the Out of the Garden Project.

That widespread collaboration, they say, was crucial to the City of Greensboro’s recent attainment of the $470,000 Local Food Promotion Program Implementation grant for its Fresh Food Access Plan.

LeGreco has been involved in community food concerns since 2007, eight years before the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area was ranked by the Food Research & Action Network as No. 1 in food hardship rates nationally. In 2014, Greensboro received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of $25,000 for an assessment of food resources, which meant that LeGreco, her colleagues, and her nonprofit partners were able to begin the task of methodically assessing Greensboro’s food access needs. They investigated Guilford County’s food deserts, or areas with very limited access to fresh food, and they hosted events such as Local Food Storm, where they mapped food access in Guilford County. To this end, LeGreco worked with Sills and the Center for Housing and Community Studies. Due to their work alongside others, the Greensboro-High Point area has moved from No. 1 to No. 9 in its food hardship rate.

Read the full article here: http://ure.uncg.edu/prod/cweekly/2016/11/15/food-greater-community/

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

#Yes4AffordableHousing – Veterans

Posted on November 14, 2016

Shanna Reece from The Servant Center discusses the need for safe and affordable housing for veterans in Greensboro.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

#Yes4AffordableHousing – Habitat for Humanity

Posted on November 14, 2016

Dr. Maria Hanlin, with the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro, discusses the housing crisis in Greensboro and the need for an affordable housing bond.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

#Yes4AffordableHousing – Aging In Place

Posted on November 14, 2016

Gene Brown with Community Housing Solutions discusses the community benefits of investing in safe homes for aging in place.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

Tiny House Tour & ‘Destiny’s Bridge’ Movie Screening

Posted on November 14, 2016

On November 10th, CHCS partnered with the UNCG Sociology Department as well as Tiny House GSO to host a movie screening of ‘Destiny’s Bridge’ as well as a tour of two tiny houses.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

Movie Screening: Destiny’s Bridge & Tiny House Tour

Posted on October 12, 2016

On November 10th, The Center for Housing and Community Studies, the UNCG Sociology Department, and Tiny House GSO will host a movie screening of “Destiny’s Bridge” and a tour of two tiny houses. The film will start at 7pm.

Center for Housing and Community Studies | News

#Yes4AffordableHousing – Economic Impact

Posted on October 12, 2016

Mayor Nancy Vaughn discusses issues surrounding affordable housing in Greensboro.