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Empowerment Network
Empowerment Network Meeting
On January 5th, I attended the meeting of the Empowerment Network (EN), the Mt. Hope Learning Center hosted. The EN group grew out of CATCH, created last year for the purpose of exploring community needs in the areas of healthcare access, affordable housing, and youth opportunities, and trying to improve community access to available recourses in the areas of housing, education, and healthcare.
The group is a network of representatives of the Department of Health, HUD, Miriam Hospital, Rochembeau Branch of Providence Public Library, and Mt. Hope community organizations, and individual residents.
At the meeting Brenda Clement, executive director of Housing Network of RI, made a powerful presentation about the housing crisis in RI. A discussion of housing concepts and housing development in Mt. Hope followed. The housing advocates and community residents exchanged opinions and ideas regarding affordable housing image and possibilities in Mt. Hope. Also in attendance, Ben Gworek, Communications and Research Director at HousingWorksRI: their publication, Rhode Island’s Affordable Housing Fact Book was handed out. The contents of that Fact Book can also be found at their website www.housingworksri.org
The housing crisis is not a RI phenomenon, it started a while ago in Boston and is spreading all over New England. Fewer and fewer middle class families and single people can afford to buy their first home: limited housing stock and escalating housing prices make homeownership out of reach for first time buyers. Last Sunday Boston Globe published a few articles about the “Housing squeeze” in Massachusetts in the Ideas section. Visit MassInc for the full text of Michael Jonas’ article Priced out featured in the Sunday Globe.
Mt. Hope, like many other New England urban neighborhoods is experiencing a rapid gentrification. Prices of multifamily houses are skyrocketing, consequently dramatically increasing the rents and forcing people who cannot afford the new rents out of the neighborhood. Federal government may be cutting funds for entitlement programs, such as Section 8, which affects subsidized housing opportunities.
If you are interested in learning more about the housing situation and housing opportunities in RI, visit Rochembeau Branch of PPL on Thursday, January 19, between 7:00 and 8:30 P.M. The Library will be introducing the Mt. Hope Housing Resource Center and hosting Providence Housing Information Night. The reception will feature a premier of video Myths of Affordable Housing: The Reality of Rhode Island’s Housing Crises.
Irene Twomey
Posted at January 13, 2006 02:08 PM