Enlarge Interfaith Liaison Gathering at Myers Park Presbyterian's Outreach Center

Posted: February 10th, 2012 Amanda Pagliarini

“My house is over a million, and I don’t want that crap next to me.” 

This quote comes from a 2010 Charlotte Observer article during debates over the then-proposed affordable housing development in Ballantyne.  The quote also opens the Souls of Our Neighbors documentary.  

This week, leaders from local Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Jewish, Universalist, Muslim, Episcopal, and Mormon churches gathered to view and discuss the film in an Interfaith Liaison Gathering. 

With the recent announcement of a new affordable housing project in Elizabeth, Maria Hamlin of Mecklenburg Ministries opened the evening with the question, “How can we as a faith community help to ensure that this is handled differently than Ballantyne?”

It was a question that invited vigorous discussion after the group viewed the film and admitted their surprise over the facts. Most shocking to the collective group was the statistic that only 1 in 4 homeless children will graduate form high school. Many were also unaware that employment was a requirement for residents of affordable housing. 

“It’s easy to fall victim to the stereotypes,” one attendee commented.  “In the '60’s and '70’s, affordable housing was the projects. If you grew up in that time, that’s how you imagine it until you’re shown the truth.” 

“When you look at the fact that these are working people, it is only just and fair that they have access to adequate housing like the rest of us,” said Myers Park Presbyterian’s Associate Pastor, Bob Breed.  “This is why our church is focused on moving our outreach efforts from charity to justice.”  

Many at the Interfaith Liaison Gathering come from congregations that host Room In The Inn, a program that offers nightly accommodations for homeless within college and congregation facilities.  But several attendees echoed one another’s feeling that the program offered a band-aid, not a cure. 

One participant shared a story about a woman who utilizes their church’s Room In The Inn program. The woman had housing 25 miles outside of Charlotte, but transportation to her six-day-a-week job in the city was too expensive and unreliable. To avoid jeopardizing her employment, the woman gave up her home and stayed at Room In The Inn while she looked for a home closer to work. 

A home she could afford. 

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