Members of the Council of Independent Business Owners were urged to offer  jobs to residents of Asheville’s public housing during a July 17 CIBO meeting at Chick-fil-A in North Asheville.

The plea was made during an update on the state of public housing in Asheville by Gene Bell, director of the Asheville Housing Authority. About 50 people attended the 40-minute meeting that was preceded by an early-morning breakfast..

On a second unrelated matter, a report on the Blue Ridge Parkway zoning overlay district was presented by Jon Creighton, Buncombe County planning director and assistant county manager.

Creighton reviewed requirements by the Parkway on county-owned land adjoining the parkway, particularly in regard to tree-planting.

As for public housing, Bell told CIBO, “About a year ago, we made a decision to get out of the housing business and instead go with (Section 8) vouchers.

“We were getting into dire straits and had to lay people off. We weren’t able to keep things up.

“The funding for vouchers has only deteriorated by about 3 percent over the last 10 years,” Bell said.

 “We were the first housing authority in the state to go with just vouchers. The risk is (that) our funding is based just on the vouchers” and, if anything changes in the funding formula, it could go poorly for the county.

“We manage 1,550 units,” Bell said. “We have 3,400 vouchers. Our payout every month is about $600,000 to the community.

“We’ve got real, real culture issues, as y’all know.... This whole thing — this public housing ... the intent was to give people during the Depression somewhere to live, then after the war, to give families somewhere to live... The intent started out to be a good thing. Like a lot of things in this country, housing is one of those things that went from one extreme to another.

“In 1950, the average medium income was 50 percent, in 1960 it was 41 percent, in 1970 it was 29 percent and in 1990 it was 27 percent. So the income levels have gone down. So if you don’t get the subsidy, it makes it virtually impossible.”

Bell added, “In the ‘50s and ‘60s, public housing in Asheville was segregated. As white people were moving out into home ownership, the disparity has gotten worse... About 51 percent who receive subsidies are white and 49 percent are black. Nationally, that number is about the same.”

In contrast, Bell pointed to the city of Detroit, where he said 99 percent of all the people who live in public housing are black. “We don’t have that here,” he noted. “I just wanted you to see that, despite this media perception, that that’s the case.

“So the situation is getting worse and that’s why we went to the voucher system.”

At that point, Bell asserted, “So what would help us the most is if you would consider hiring some of our residents.”

He pointed out that  Pisgah View has 234 units, out of which 66 percent of heads of household do not work. “And there’s no way you can sustain anything over time if people don’t work.”

Further, Bell said, “In my opinion, if you establish a system where you can make more money by not doing anything,” there will be problems. “So if I have one child and I get $200 and two children I get $400, what’s to stop you” from continuing to have children?

He then reiterated that “we’re asking for our residents to be given job opportunities.”

In addition, Bell said, “We have a youth work program (and it costs $1,800 per child) and we’re asking you (CIBO) to consider giving a scholarship for one kid.”

In concluding his talk, Bell asserted, “As we go forward, we need to figure out a way to not lose kids to dropout, crime... We have good people ... and what you see and what you hear is not the rule.

During a question-and-answer period that followed, Bell said that, given that his agency is “looking at over 3,000 people,” then “jobs are No. 1,” followed by “homeownership (as) No. 2. But first things, first, we’ve got to get people employed.”