From election conspiracy theories, to shortchanged teachers, to the truth about NC’s bungled disaster relief program: The week’s top stories on Policy Watch

By
September 18, 2022
In Defending Democracy, Education, Housing, News

1. Payroll system switch shortchanges hundreds of teachers, leads to finger-pointing by state and local officials

State lawmakers aware of the erroneous deductions in March

Bobbie Cavnar, a Gaston County Schools high school English teacher, was shocked last month when his paystub showed $1,600 worth of unexplained deductions.

Fortunately for the 2016-17 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, his spouse works, and the couple could transfer money from savings to cover monthly bills.

Dipping into savings to pay bills isn’t something the Cavnars like to do, but both felt lucky to have extra money available to cover the errant deductions.

“We didn’t have to default on anything but there are plenty of teachers who could not weather a month without pay or a $1,500 deduction,” Cavnar said. “We’ve heard stories from teachers who’ve had to help each other out by buying things like grocery gift cards and things like that to kind of weather through.”

At least one Gaston County teacher quit her job because of payroll issues.[Read more...]

2. Information can’t keep up with misinformation about NC voting machines 

Commissioners’ meetings in Surry County are a showcase of election conspiracy theories where distrust of the machines that count ballots plays a starring role  

This story is part of a project called Democracy Day, in which newsrooms across the country are shining a light on threats to democracy. 

The northwestern North Carolina county on the Virginia border is probably best known as the home of Mount Airy, the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for Mayberry in his eponymous television show from the 1960s. This year, Surry County has been a stop on the circuit for prominent election deniers who falsely maintain that votes were engineered to have President Joe Biden win in 2020.  

The county devoted nearly an entire May meeting to election deniers that featured David Clements, a former assistant professor at New Mexico State University who travels the country preaching about fraud. Clements, who lost his university job last year because he refused to wear a mask in class, urged Surry to hand-count ballots.  

At the meeting’s end, Surry board Chairman Bill Goins told the crowd that commissioners were reviewing residents’ recommendations, but concerns about fraud should go to the local and state boards of elections.  Someone in the crowd yelled “Pontius Pilate.” [Read more...]

3. Hurricane survivors testify before legislative oversight committee, unveiling the truth about ReBuild NC’s bungled disaster relief program

They arrived with folded papers pulled from their pockets. Some came carrying folders that brimmed with documents neatly arranged in binder clips. Others arrived empty-handed, but hoped to leave with answers.

With scores more watching in person and online, survivors of hurricanes Matthew and Florence spoke before a state government oversight committee Wednesday about the injustices they have endured – a direct result of the bungled disaster relief program run by the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency, also known as ReBuild NC. 

Although they brought prepared statements, the survivors eventually veered off script. Years of anger and confusion, frustration and sorrow could not be contained to a single 8 1/2-by-11 sheet of paper.

“I beg each of you to think about what you allowed to go on,” Lavonne Merritt, who lives in Wendell, said. Her father applied for a new house in 2019, but died of cancer before he could return home. As his heir, Merritt is now in the disaster relief program. Construction on the house hasn’t even started. [Read more...]

4. NC legislative hearing should feature tough questions about state’s troubled hurricane response

Six years.

That’s how long it will have been, come next month, since Hurricane Matthew raked and inundated eastern North Carolina with high winds and catastrophic rainfall.

The storm arrived on Oct. 8, 2016, and left within a day, but the trail of destruction that resulted was huge. Twelve to eighteen inches of rain fell over a brief period that came on the heels of another 6 to 10 inches of rain deposited by Tropical Storm Hermine.

Twenty-eight people were killed, tens of thousands of structures were damaged or destroyed, flooding was “catastrophic” – in many places, for weeks afterward. Several of the state’s poorest counties fared the worst. [Read more...]

5. Voting rights groups seek to rally public opinion on potentially momentous NC gerrymandering case

Republican lawmakers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to end state court oversight of federal elections and pro-democracy advocates are pushing back  

It’s a pending U.S. Supreme Court case about the control of elections, a subject most people don’t think about every day. But Moore vs. Harper has become a rallying cry for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Common Cause NC and other voting rights groups as they try to engage grassroots activists in a constitutional debate that has the attention of legal scholars, elected officials, and state supreme court justices throughout the nation. 

The case originating in North Carolina has the potential to give the General Assembly and legislatures around the country more control over how federal elections are run and how congressional districts are drawn. Legislators want to prevent state courts from having any say over laws they pass regarding federal elections.[Read more...]

6. UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members pass resolution as tensions continue over free speech

Faculty members at UNC Chapel Hill have often spoken their minds – but in some cases, they have done so at their own peril.

Political appointees on the UNC Board of Governors have targeted academic centers whose work they oppose. They have allegedly meddled in faculty hiring decisions for political reasons. And they have exacted reprisals against faculty members who speak publicly on political controversies of the day.

Last week UNC-Chapel Hill’s Faculty Council passed a resolution affirming the right of faculty members to speak freely and the university’s duty to protect their speech.

“[Faculty members] should be encouraged to provide thought leadership, to be public scholars when their work gives them meaningful insight,” said Mimi Chapman during the meeting. “This is what faculty at a great research university does. They weigh in. They share their knowledge and experience. We shouldn’t be intimidated into hiding our light under the proverbial bushel.” [Read more...]

7. Dispatches from court: A family apart

This is the first in an ongoing series about goings-on in county courthouses across the state. As a recent North Carolina transplant and the newest member of the Policy Watch team, I am getting to know my new home and beat by traveling to courtrooms to observe routine, everyday hearings and sharing what I learn with readers. Each dispatch will be from a different county. Have a suggestion? Email me at [email protected].

I’ve covered the criminal legal system in four states. Each time I have found the best way to understand issues facing the justice system is to observe the hearings on the daily dockets. For these stories, I’ll be on the ground and in the weeds; the recaps will not necessarily be about policy problems or systemic issues with the justice system. Rather, what is written will be deemed newsworthy because it is a routine occurrence that might surprise those who haven’t been through the system themselves.

Cases were moving slowly through Courtroom 2A on Monday morning. Several of those whose names were written on a criminal docket pinned to the wall in the lobby grumbled that they had to get a move on. They didn’t want to spend their whole day at the Chatham County Courthouse.

The room got quiet when District Court Judge Samantha Cabe called Garima Sinha’s name. [Read more...]

8. U.S. Senate delays same-sex marriage vote until after midterm elections

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate won’t vote on legislation to secure marriage equality for millions of Americans until after the midterm elections, bipartisan negotiators announced Thursday.

The move follows weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions among five U.S. senators from both political parties who have been drafting an amendment to the House-passed legislation that they hoped would secure more GOP votes. The amendment would clarify religious liberty protections, though those protections already are in place. [Read more…]

9. Weekly Radio Interviews and Daily Audio Commentaries:

Click here for the latest radio interviews and commentaries with Policy Watch Director Rob Schofield.

10. Weekly Editorial Cartoon:

As rural homelessness increases, HUD aims money at helping people without access to shelters

By
September 12, 2022
In Housing, News

People of color shouldn’t have to obliterate their presence to receive fair home values

By
August 24, 2022
In Commentary, Housing, race

A house for sale in Richmond, VA (Sarah Vogelsong / Virginia Mercury)

Another case of likely racial discrimination in housing appraisals has cropped up, this time in Baltimore.

The New York Times recently reported a Black husband and wife first received an appraisal of $472,000. After they “whitewashed” their home – removing family photos and having a White colleague stand in for them as the “owner” – a second appraisal came in at $750,000. That’s nearly $300,000 more.

The process is infuriating for Black and brown families. It’s also exhausting.

Why does such bias persist? Why can’t people get what’s due?

The account of Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott is one of dozens that have gained media attention in recent years. Similar allegations have occurred in California’s Bay Area, central Indiana and Cincinnati.

“It’s very humiliating to strip yourself of your own home,” Connolly told The Times.

Appraisals often are subjective. Still, these stories suggest something more than chance is afoot.

Federal statistics show nearly 98% of property appraisers are White. The percentage, and the comments from Black homeowners, raise questions about bias. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 says it’s illegal to discriminate in appraising residences.

Homeownership is a key way to pass down wealth to future generations. When the housing industry shortchanges property value, it harms families depending on an unbiased review.

A 2018 Brookings Institution study noted that “owner-occupied homes in Black neighborhoods are undervalued by $48,000 per home on average.” It studied 113 metro areas with at least one majority-Black neighborhood. In Virginia, the areas were Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Lynchburg, Richmond and Roanoke.

Not that African Americans have been able to rely on equity when it comes to housing policies.

The nation’s history is littered with racism in the market. This includes redlining, restrictive covenants and a GI Bill that in practice denied mortgages and home loans to Black veterans. Urban Renewal projects, including highways, often destroyed Black communities.

Vestiges of those decades-old policies remain today.

Isabel McLain, a research and policy analyst for Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, said Monday she didn’t have exact statistics on how often under-appraisals occurred in the state.

However, “we understand that racially biased appraisals are a systemic problem in Virginia, based on national studies that have included or reported on Virginia communities,” she noted by email.

McLain cited, for example, a Freddie Mac report released in 2021 that underscored biased devaluations. Researchers found a large portion of appraisers valued homes in majority-Black and majority-Latino neighborhoods below the contract price at rates much higher than they did for homes in majority-White neighborhoods.

“These disparities were not driven by a few appraisers but reflect widespread trends across the profession, including appraisers in Virginia,” she noted.

Blacks, Latinos – heck, everybody – just want to be treated fairly when it comes to housing. Numerous anecdotes and data indicate race in housing remains a fault line, one that hinders wealth and progress for people of color.

Veteran journalist Roger Chesley is a commentator for the Virginia Mercury, which first published this essay.

Home ownership and the “American Dream” are crushed by Real Estate Investment Trusts

By
August 23, 2022
In Commentary, Housing

Image: AdobeStock

A big economic division between renters and homeowners is apparent when looking at net worth: For homeowners, the median net worth of $231,400 is about 44 times the median net worth of renters, which is $5,200.

Dr. Ken Chilton of Tennessee State University has studied the impact of Real Estate Investment Trusts on the housing market and how they are likely to rob families of the generational wealth created by home ownership. He coined the phrase “equity mining.”

For every family that rents from a REIT, $226,200 of family wealth is shifted to investors away from families. This creates a permanent underclass of poor who can become dependent upon the state to help them survive.

Across the United States, the decline of affordable housing has transformed the lives of the poor. Many poor families who are renting today receive no housing assistance and reside in the private rental market, where over half spend at least 50% of their income on housing costs and a quarter spend over 70% on them.

Increasing rent burden among low-income families directly contributes to their economic hardship and is a source of residential insecurity and homelessness.  But sociologists have yet to identify the basic sources of the affordable housing crisis or to fully articulate the inner workings of rental markets. Conspicuously absent from most accounts of neighborhood dynamics or inequality are landlords and increasingly corporate interests via REITs, who play a vitally important role in the lives of low-income families.

In Rutherford County in central Tennessee, nearly 10% of all residential units are owned by REITs.

Tenant exploitation (overcharging renters relative to the market value of their home) and landlord profit margins vary. However, their impact on the housing market is very real. Because the acquisition of property by REITs in low-income neighborhoods is relatively affordable, the renters in those neighborhoods easily become “exploited consumers.”

Landlords operating in those neighborhoods also enjoy higher profits, owing to significantly lower mortgage and tax burdens but not significantly lower rents. This demonstrates how the market strategies and profit motivation of REITs contribute to high rent burdens in low-income neighborhoods.

The drive to maximize profits also contributes to a lack of inventory for families who may wish to own their home rather than rent. The lack of inventory causes a scarcity which drives up prices making it problematic to enter the home buying market.

We are witnessing a type of “social engineering.” Many politicians may view this as an opportunity to continue to remain in power. Regardless of their words and how much they lament the situations we must judge our elected leaders by their deeds or lack thereof to address this growing issue. Homeownership leads to prosperity and creates the generational wealth necessary for future generations to realize the American dream.

Rob Mitchell serves as property assessor for Rutherford County, Tennessee and is an occasional contributor to the Tennessee Lookout, which first published this commentary.

Plagued by construction delays, ReBuild NC has spent $10.6 million to house Hurricane Matthew survivors in motels, rent storage units

By
July 29, 2022
In Governor Roy Cooper, Housing, Legislature

A house in Wayne County whose homeowner has been displaced by Hurricane Matthew since the storm hit in 2016. (Photo: Lisa Sorg)

This story has been corrected to reflect the first TRA payment was in August 2019, not January 2020.

ReBuild NC has spent $10.64 million on motels, moving and storage unit expenses in three years for displaced Hurricane Matthew survivors, as construction and administrative delays have kept people from returning to their homes.

The figures were included in Temporary Relocation Assistance (TRA) data provided by ReBuild NC, also known as the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency. The data also includes expenses for apartment leases and stipends for friends and family of Hurricane Matthew survivors who privately house them.

As part of an ongoing investigative series, Policy Watch reported earlier this month that ReBuild NC had been unable to provide detailed expenditure documents as requested under public records law. The agency then agreed to send totals, but without supporting documentation.

In providing the new information, a ReBuild NC spokesperson noted that TRA funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, although this type of assistance is not a HUD requirement. “It is an additional benefit that NCORR decided to provide to make the recovery process easier, especially for those applicants who have no other housing options during the construction process. Without this benefit, many of our applicants would not be able to participate in the program,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Under the TRA program, once construction begins on a home, ReBuild NC pays to move and house low-income hurricane survivors, as well as covering the cost of renting mobile storage units.

ReBuild NC incurred its first TRA expenses in August 2019. Since then, ReBuild NC has paid $6.5 million in motel bills, $1.7 million to PODS Enterprises, and $70,000 to 1-800-PACK-RAT for mobile storage units, as well as other expenses.

The relocation is supposed to be temporary — usually up to six months — but because of ReBuild NC’s mismanagement of the program, some hurricane survivors have lived in motels for more than two years. This includes the Williams family, who have been stuck in one room without a kitchen for 862 days.

Another homeowner, who asked not to be named for fear that work on their home would be delayed, told Policy Watch they have been in a motel since early 2020. However, the motel does not have a kitchen and the person receives food stamps, which don’t cover restaurant meals. As a result, it has been difficult for them to afford food, they said.

Construction delays have long plagued the program. Although some lag time can be attributed to the pandemic and supply chain issues, that does not explain all of the inefficiencies. In other instances, homeowners have been moved from livable, if damaged houses with the expectation construction would begin immediately. Instead, months, even years pass.

Several contractors have told Policy Watch that they have completed the work but have not been paid by ReBuild NC. Multiple contractors told Policy Watch that it can take months to get approval for change orders; these occur when contractors uncover additional work that needs done and that was beyond the estimate cost of repairs, such as lead paint or asbestos abatement.

According to state data that had been sent by ReBuild NC to the governor’s office and obtained by Policy Watch, 740 homes are listed as complete as of July 11. In early May that figure was 717.

The average cost per house — including new construction and rehabs — is $136,882, according to state cost estimate and invoicing data obtained by Policy Watch. Depending on the type of home, the cost of a motel stay could exceed that of new construction or repairs.

The recent TRA figures don’t capture the full extent of displaced homeowners. Hurricane survivors whose income is too high must pay for their own relocation expenses. However, several homeowners, such as the Dillahunt family, have told Policy Watch their income was miscalculated and they were in effect, homeless. The Zerby family didn’t qualify for TRA and lived in a travel trailer in a church parking lot for more than a year.

ReBuild NC operates its homeowner disaster recovery program using an eight-step process. In the first five steps, the process is primarily administrative: determining an applicant’s eligibility and benefit amounts, as well as inspecting the home.

In Step 6, ReBuild NC puts a project out for bid, and an eligible household can then move using TRA assistance. (If repairs are minor, a homeowner can remain in the house.) There are 819 households in Step 6, according to an eight-step status report dated July 11.

Construction begins in Step 7, the current status for 173 households. Another 740 are in Step 8.

Hurricane Matthew devastated eastern North Carolina in October 2016. HUD subsequently allotted North Carolina a $236 million grant for a disaster relief homeowner recovery program related to the storm. However, the recovery program, initially run by the state Department of Public Safety and the Department of Commerce was slow to launch, and cited by HUD as a “slow spender,” jeopardizing the grant.

The state legislature created the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency in late 2018; Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Laura Hogshead as ReBuild NC’s director; she has been in charge since early 2019. Ivan Duncan is the chief program delivery officer, responsible for dealing with contractors.

Last week, state House and Senate leadership announced the formation of a 12-member oversight committee to investigate the delays and problems with the program. the first meeting has not been scheduled.

 

From Ivan Duncan’s LinkedIn page: Duncan is the chief program delivery officer at ReBuild NC. He was commenting on a United Nations post to LinkedIn about disaster relief. Multiple contractors and homeowners have complained that he is responsible for many of ReBuild’s problems. The agency has declined to make Duncan available to Policy Watch for an interview.

Previous 1 23 4 Next