"They treat you like an 'it,'" Richardson says. "They don't treat you like a human being."
Nobody would take him. His stay at the Garfield Center stretched from August to January of this year, when officials at the Garfield Center told him they had no choice but to evict him. He was down to his last day, and had nowhere to go. A return to the homeless shelter loomed. At the last possible instant, a housing location service found him a spartan one-bedroom apartment on West Northern Avenue.
Paolo Vescia
Jeff Taylor: "I'll work with a guy for a year, and then
he'll get discouraged by all the barriers in front of him.
And then he'll fail."
Paolo Vescia
John Richardson: "They treat you like an 'it.'"
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Richardson knows he's fortunate. He's met mentally ill felons who have been waiting for housing for two years. He's obtained a driver's license, though he has nothing to drive. He's recuperating from surgery on his wrist, and when it's strong enough, he hopes to begin attending vocational classes to learn a new trade.
He has two children he never sees, so depression is a constant companion.
"I sit in this apartment and cry all weekend," he says.
At least he's got an apartment to cry in.
Disabled people like Richardson are supposed to be protected by the federal Fair Housing Act.
On March 1, Terry Goddard sent Attorney General Janet Napolitano a detailed critique of Phoenix's housing policies and asked the prosecutor to determine whether Phoenix was in compliance with the act.
Among 14 questionable policies he cited was a city rule that requires that all inner city "infill" homes have attached garages and automatic watering systems -- even though desert landscaping is mandatory. The rules add $8,000 to $10,000 to the price of an infill house, Goddard says.
"Taken together, these policies make affordable housing development and the providing of new social services in Phoenix difficult if not impossible," Goddard wrote.
The AG's Office responded by meeting with two city councilmen, and has asked for more information from the city. "We're actively pursuing it," says Dennis Burke, chief deputy AG.
Phil Gordon, who sat in on that meeting, is convinced the city is in compliance.
"Our city attorneys have reviewed every one of Terry's points," Gordon says. "They categorically say there isn't any violation of the law. If there are, then we will correct them."
Ironically, the city's nettlesome 40 percent limit on tax credits for affordable housing was enacted when Goddard was Phoenix's mayor. And Goddard's administration energized neighborhood activism, which is now seen as a hindrance to efforts to expand affordable housing.
Goddard says he acknowledged that the 40 percent rule was a mistake long ago, and has been urging the city to change the policy for years.
Steve Capobres of the state housing office concedes that the 40 percent rule makes Phoenix less attractive to developers. "That's why we hear that developers would rather go to other cities," he says.
The city council has waived the 40 percent limit on several recent projects.
But Jacki Taylor, director of the nonprofit United Methodist Outreach Ministries, felt the brunt of the 40 percent rule -- and hostile neighbors -- when her agency proposed an 80-unit facility at 18th Street and Van Buren. Eighty percent of the apartments were to be affordable, and UMOM had arranged to sell $4 million in tax credits to provide equity for the project and keep rents very low.
It was UMOM's first attempt to build new affordable housing.
"It was kind of baptism by fire," Taylor says. "There was tremendous, tremendous neighborhood opposition, and, at times, that got to feeling pretty personal. In that neighborhood, can you believe? We thought we were investing new dollars into the Van Buren corridor."
The city heeded the hue and cry from the neighbors, and refused to waive the 40 percent limit.
"It was really disappointing, and particularly when we see the need for housing that targets low-income families," Taylor says. "For us it was particularly heart-wrenching to have to give up those dollars."
UMOM forfeited $2 million in tax credit equity and downsized its project to 64 units, with only 26 percent of them affordable. To keep the project afloat, the city wound up granting it $1 million in federal funds that could have gone to other affordable-housing projects.
"The city has put a lot of work into organizing the neighborhood associations, and that's a really good thing," Taylor says. "But the pendulum has really swung way over to one side. I think they border on swinging too much to one side when a neighborhood has the potential to literally halt the development of affordable housing in the community."
Taylor isn't certain if UMOM will attempt another affordable-housing project.
"I think where I'm at is, let's get this done first and then see where we go," she says. "Our hope would be that out of this there would be a modest developer's fee that we could hang onto and use for subsequent development of projects.
"I'm also a firm believer that you should never waste the gift of knowledge that you've acquired."
