DeKalb Alliance
for Economic Human Rights

LINC (Low Income Networking and Communications) Project

Email us!
vip_people@yahoo.com

VIP People
c/o Vincent Gervais
217 South 2nd Street #283
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-758-3479

Housing policy is not an isolated effort but part of the larger need for sustainable community planning. This is particularly true in the case of affordable housing for low-income and poor households. The DeKalb CDBG Consolidated Plan indicates that over 85% of families and individuals currently on the waiting list for housing assistance earn below 30% of the city's median household income. Based on Census calculations, this translates to less than $10,000 per year, a figure that is significantly lower than the federal poverty threshold for a family of three. Evidence suggests that housing insecurity is a hidden problem for other DeKalb families as well. In a city where market rates for real estate are influenced by university consumer demand, low-wage households may spend from 50 to 70 percent of their gross income on housing costs alone. It should thus be no surprise that, according to the Salvation Army Food Pantry, a growing number of DeKalb households are unable to meet their basic food needs from month to month.

The lesson here is that we cannot expect workers who are employed at low-wage jobs to be economically stable residents and citizens. Yet across the last 30 years, economic development in the DeKalb area has heavily favored service and light industry employers that typically provide low-wage, part-time, temporary and/or seasonal work. Many of these jobs also lack important benefits, such as health care coverage. The net effect is that the workers in these businesses subsidize profitability.

It is no secret that low-wage labor serves as an incentive to attract employers seeking to reduce the cost of doing business. Yet this competitive strategy is short sighted and will ultimately increase the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" of our community. The issue of affordable housing in DeKalb is directly tied to the need for a sustainable wage base, including a living wage with benefits that can support financial security among workers at the lower end of the employment ladder. We urge the City to consider housing policy and economic development policy as part of an overall sustainable development strategy. In particular, we recommend that the Economic Development Commission set as an agenda item a serious discussion of what would constitute a living wage in the City of DeKalb, one that reflects the true cost of living and serves as a foundation to attract and retain industry in the community.

Return to        Table of Contents
Go to Part I    COMMENTS ON A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE PLAN
Go to Part II   COMMENTS ON ACQUISITION, DEMOLITION AND
                      THE GUARANTEE OF REPLACEMENT HOUSING
Go to  Part III COMMENTS ON READING AND RESEARCH PROCESSES
Go to  Part IV  COMMENTS ON THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HOUSING 
                      POLICY, SUSTAINABLE WAGES & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Go toPart V    SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

March 16, 2000:
VIP People and DeKalb CAEHRs complete letter writing campaign assisting in the Call to Action.

February 14 2000:
VIP People and DeKalb Alliance present comments on CDBG Consolidated Plan regarding  housing issues in the city of DeKalb .

February 2-8 2000:
VIP People attend the EHRC Planning Meeting.

November 12-14 1999:
VIP People co-sponsored the
Poverty & Community Organizing: DeKalb Conference on Economic Human Rights

October 1999:
Participated in the
March of the Americas

October 28, 1999:
VIP People protested 
in solidarity with the
Chicago Coalition to
Protect  Public Housing 
March on City Hall