With the temperatures this winter delivering some of Greensboro’s coldest nights for homeless residents. The city’s Affordable Housing Management, a nonprofit property-management group, is set to add 16 new affordable apartment units for the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless.
This comes at a time when the homelessness level in Greensboro is at a crisis level, according to the Interactive Resource Center. Over 1,000 people go to sleep homeless each night in the city. Leaving many to fend for themselves, sleeping in cars, tents and on the streets has become their normal.
Morgan Waterman, a representative of the nonprofit, said the apartments will have a set rent aimed towards households at or below 30% and 50% of Guilford County’s median income, adjusted according to family size.
The average cost for those at or earning below 30% of the county’s median income would be between $187 and $248. For those earning at or below 50% of the county’s median income, the average cost would be between $609 and $869.
However, what about those who can’t afford anything?
In 2022, the Census Reporter showed that 17% of the people in Guilford County live below the poverty line. This is about 1.3 times the rate in North Carolina and 1.4 times the rate in the United States. For children under the age of 18, 22% are living below the poverty line.
Guilford County must do more to support its residents.
Waterman said that the development has been in the works for a couple of years, and that the development will bring the total number of supportive housing units built by Affordable Housing Management to 52 in the last 12 years.
While that has certainly helped homeless people in Guilford County, there is still a long ways to go. No one should be subjected to live on the cold ragged pavement or streets of Greensboro. Until the homeless numbers in Guilford County reach 0% no one should be satisfied.
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