By Kristin Lavergne
Each day, IFC Commons bustles with activity. Community members stop by to gather information, fill shopping carts full of groceries, and catch up with friends over a hot meal. Volunteers and staff sort and stock food, prepare healthy and delicious spreads, and connect folks with community resources. Supporters of all kinds come through with pantry staples, produce from farms and gardens, cold weather gear, financial donations, and words of support.
Hundreds of people come through the doors of IFC Commons each week, all with different life experiences and different roles to play. And when it comes down to it, there is one reason we all need to keep showing up every day: our community doesn’t have housing everyone can afford.
If our neighbors had housing they could afford with the income they bring in each month,
- They wouldn’t need to come to Community Market for groceries to fill their refrigerators and restock their shelves.
- They wouldn’t have to rely on Community Kitchen for a hot meal on their lunch break or dinner on their way home.
- They wouldn’t have to apply for Emergency Financial Assistance because their electricity is about to be turned off.
- They wouldn’t need to turn to Community Navigation Services to accompany them on their journey through homelessness because they fell behind on rent due to an unexpected medical bill.
78% of rental households in Chapel Hill are cost burdened, which means that renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs and can’t meet all their needs for food, clothing, medication, and other necessities. Those who teach at our schools, nurse us back to health at the hospital, stock the shelves at our grocery stores, and make cappuccinos at our favorite cafes cannot cover their basic living expenses.
Imagine if people had housing that matched their means; imagine that they could manage their household’s daily needs without our programs. In this new reality, IFC could focus on being a hub for community building, creativity, and social change. We could create spaces for healing, relationship-building, and joy. Community members would still come together for meals and resource sharing — only it would be by choice instead of out of desperate necessity.
For the past 60 years, IFC has existed in large part because the cost of housing our community offers doesn’t match the wages and other income many of our neighbors earn. It doesn’t have to be this way.
We can create more housing opportunities for workers who provide us with essential services.
We can preserve naturally occurring affordable housing by making sure funding is available for maintenance and repairs.
We can provide a true living wage for everyone so our neighbors can provide for their families.
We can build the community we want to see –
and we won’t stop until we do.
Thank you for all the ways you join us in support of our vision of a community that meets everyone’s needs for housing, healthy food, and meaningful connection.