Hundreds of faith-based activists poured into downtown Evansville Monday night to ask city officials to increase funding for affordable housing. They didn’t get what they first asked for.
Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment (CAJE) wants the city to allocate $2 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in next year’s budget.
Floyd Edwards, pastor of Mt. Olive Galillee Baptist Church, calls it a quality of life issue.
"People are living in places where they really cannot afford the gas bill, the electric bill, and the rent," says Edwards, who is also the secretary of CAJE's board.
After questioning housing officials and providing testimonials, CAJE asked for committment from city learders at the group's Nehemiah Action at the Old National Events Plaza.
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says he can’t agree to the request since budget negotiations haven’t even started.
"I couldn’t stand before a group of 14 or 1500 people with a straight face and say, 'yes we’re going to increase one line item by a multiple of four,'" the mayor says.
Winnecke did agree to allocate $500,000, the amount in the current budget.
"The city of Evansville can't be the lone funder in this," the mayor says. "We can't be the one organization that builds our way out of this. We have to have partnerships"
The two city councilmen in attendance, Justin Elpers and Jonathan Weaver, agreed to approve the half-million-dollar figure.
"My background as a teacher, I'm not blind to the issue of affordable housing," Elpers says. "I saw firsthand in my classroom, where students struggled to find a place to sleep at night at times."
Budget talks start in a couple weeks. City council will be presented with a budget in late summer and will likely approve a final version in the fall.
Pastor Edwards says CAJE will show up to those meetings to make sure the group gets what was promised.
Affordable housing was one of two issues CAJE wants officals to act on. The other is mental health care for dually diagnosed children, who have a developmenal disorder and a comorbid mental illness.
Scott Branam, chief administrative officer of Deaconess Cross Pointe, agreed to be part of a task force to study the issue. CAJE also secured committment from two others involved in mental health care.