Those who benefited from affordable housing oppose it for others | Mullane

When it comes to living happily ever after, each of us starts somewhere, usually an inexpensive joint that fits our slender budget.

For me, it was a two-bedroom place in West Philadelphia, with three roommates to share the rent. After college, with a full-time newspaper job, I rented an in-law suite in Bristol Borough that was so small even the mice were hunchback. Third place was a Bristol riverfront apartment, where Mrs. Mullane and I began life together as semi-bohemians, with couch cushions for a bed and a Jeep Wrangler and motorcycle for transportation. When the babies arrived, the Racquet Club Apartments on Route 413 were ideal on a newspaperman’s modest pay, and we never did day care.

This affordable apartment lifestyle allowed us to save for a house, which we purchased in Levittown and still reside, content on our sweeping 0.29 acres.

A lot of us in Middletown have taken that path to home ownership. We likely have fond memories of our early, lean years. But in not one of my memories do a bunch of strangers sign a petition and say, “Yo, you down-market longhair, get lost and take your noisy bike and salsa music with you, you property value wrecker.”

Sadly, that’s happening with some of my middle-class neighbors in Middletown who oppose a plan for a 42-unit affordable apartment building at 469 E. Maple Avenue in Langhorne. It will be on the Beechwood NeuroRehab property owned by Woods Services, the venerable nonprofit that treats and assists people disabilities so they can live independently.

At the July 13 township zoning board meeting, usually sparsely attended affairs, about 200 people crowded into the old municipal building on Trenton Road. They were there to hear Woods’ representatives make their case for zoning variances to allow an increase in the number of dwelling units from two to three per acre, and relief from a maximum building height requirement, raising it from 35 feet to 54 feet.

Recognizing the hostile opposition (they hired their own lawyer and a petition protesting the affordable housing has at least 150 signatures), Mike McGinnis, Woods’ lawyer, withdrew the request for change in the building’s height, telling the zoners that a lower profile building is meant as “truly a good faith effort” to allay fears the apartments will be a detriment.

The opposition has two main gripes. First, the affordables moving in will put more traffic onto clogged roads and, second, affordability will “affect” property values of area homeowners.

“Would you want to live near it?” a woman asked me.

I was tempted to ask how she started out as a young adult, but got the sense she was adamant, and fine with pulling up the affordable housing ladder behind her, since she got hers.

The irony is rich, given that Middletown is the land of affordable housing, that is, Levittown. And it was only possible because all those early mortgages taken by our parents and grandparents were backed by the FHA in case the newlyweds of that generation with sketchy financials or no credit failed to repay. Talk about giving young Americans a hand when they needed it most. It built the middle class and generational wealth.

To those opposed to the low-cost apartment plan, though, it doesn’t seem to matter why Woods wants to build.

“The county is sorely lacking in affordable housing,” Barry Sharer, chairman of Woods board of trustees, told the zoners.

The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bucks County is running at about $1,300 a month. At $15 an hour, who can afford that, especially as inflation roars and Build Back Better has morphed into Build Back Broker. The attitude of those opposed seems, sure, you lower-income types can care for the disabled at Woods, serve us 24/7 at Wawa, cut our lawns in heat waves, and mind our kids/grandkids at day care, but you can’t live near us. Our property values!

Woods wants to take advantage of federal housing tax credits, administered through Pennsylvania, to subsidize construction costs allowing affordable rents for people in the $30,000 to $40,000 income level, which include Woods’ employees, who earn between $17 and $24 an hour, Sharer said.

Nine of the units will be set aside for Woods clients, others for service staff, some for the county, and the rest to the general public.

Th last two rankled some in the crowd, who whispered and murmured when Sharer mentioned the county wanted set-asides for much needed emergency housing, and that out-of-towners can apply for an apartment.

The fears, a man told me, is the affordable apartments will attract “an element,” by which undesirable neighbors who bring additional traffic.

Frankly, those are legitimate concerns. But on the traffic, I can tell you that as a student at Bucks Community College in the early 1980s, who drove past the Beechwood property every day, traffic was always a mess, has not improved, and won’t ever improve. Langhorne is lovely. Its traffic, no.

On undesirable neighbors, does anyone believe that Woods will rent to bums who disturb the peace? I don’t. Still, Woods needs to assure the opposition it won’t happen, and say how. That’s fair.

Those of us who achieved the American dream should remember where we came from. We boomers, especially, should remember the financial breaks we got so we could work toward a better life and a place of our own.

Columnist JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

Beautiful voice of Bucks County https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/entertainment/2022/07/11/council-rock-north-grad-capri-wagner-is-noticed-b

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Opposition to affordable housing at Woods Services forget Bucks County history