By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó The Kannapolis City Council heard a report from representatives of community agencies on some of the more pressing needs facing citizens at Monday’s meeting.
Jessica Castrodale, of Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast, and Nancy Litton, of the Cabarrus County chapter of the American Red Cross, presented the 2008 Community Needs Assessment Report on behalf of the Community Planning Council.
CMC-NorthEast and the Cabarrus American Red Cross are among the many community organizations that comprise the council. Litton and Castrodale presented the report as guidance for lawmakers in addressing what the Community Planning Council sees as urgent needs.
Poverty, job losses and health-related issues are among the problems the report seeks to highlight.
“The percentage of families in poverty has almost doubled between 2000 and 2006,” Litton said.
The number of people in Cabarrus County who are receiving food stamps has more than tripled in that span, from about 4,000 in 2000 to more than 13,000 in 2006.
“There has been a 38 percent loss of manufacturing jobs from the year 2000 to 2007,” Litton said.
Unfortunately, those are jobs which traditionally offered benefits and higher than minimum-wage pay, even for those who had only a basic education.
Those jobs have been replaced by leisure and hospitality jobs which often offer no benefits and may not pay a living wage.
“The irregular hours and weekend and evening hours of these jobs may result in the need for more public transit options and child care in different hours and locations,” Litton said.
Literacy is another obstacle. Litton said that 18 percent of adults in Cabarrus County are functionally illiterate, meaning they read at or below a fourth-grade level.
Castrodale and Litton highlighted increasing levels of obesity as another source of concern. According to public health clinics which keep track of these statistics, as many as one in three Cabarrus County children are obese.
“We hope you will see this as a call to action,” Castrodale said. “We have a lot of assets that make us a strong community.”
The Community Planning Council’s full report and supporting documents are available online at www.healthycabarrus.org.
Kannapolis City Council members agreed that steps were needed to combat health issues and to promote growth and diversity within the community. No official action was called for.
In other business:
– Council members voted to go ahead with an application for a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.
The grant is open to communities affected by foreclosures and blighted or abandoned properties. Irene Sacks, director of business and community affairs for the city of Kannapolis, said a number of other area cities, including Salisbury, are applying for the grant.
Communities that are approved will receive a grant of $2 million to $5 million per grant award, plus up to 5 percent of administrative costs, Sacks said.
The money can be used to buy foreclosed and abandoned properties, refurbish them or demolish them and then resell the property or develop it for civic use.
The federal government has said the funds cannot be used to help current property owners avoid foreclosure. Also, the government will not allow cities to use the funds to refinance mortgages, pay back taxes or purchase properties that have not been foreclosed upon.
Sacks said Cabarrus County and Kannapolis have been hit hard by foreclosures. Under the city staff’s proposal, local charitable groups Prosperity Unlimited and Cooperative Christian Ministries would be considered to help administer the program.
City Manager Mike Legg supported the application but said the grant was not guaranteed.
“There’s not a whole lot of politics to it. It’s more a question of what are the issues and what is your plan to solve them,” Legg said.
Council members debated the plan at length. Many said they were unhappy the funds could not be used to help avoid foreclosure.
Councilman Darrell Hinnant said he doubted buyers would be easy to find in the current market.
“No one is going to be out there buying these houses,” Hinnant said. “No one’s going to loan them (the original homeowners) any money.”
Kathy Brantley, project director for Prosperity Unlimited, responded that there was already a pool of potential buyers ó many of whom had no problem paying their mortgages until they lost their jobs.
“Yes, they have problems with their credit,” Brantley said. But, she added, about half of their clients could still qualify for loans with down-payment assistance provided by one of a number of agencies.
“There is potential for any number of people to get in there,” Brantley said.
Mayor Pro Tem Randy Cauthen expressed cautious optimism. “Certainly, putting people in homes is a wonderful thing,” Cauthen said.
But, he added, “It bothers me that we’re setting some of these people up for failure if we give them that.”
The motion to proceed with the application passed on a 5-2 vote. Hinnant and Councilman Gene McCombs voted against.
– City Manager Mike Legg presented the city’s 2009 state and federal legislative priorities lists to the council. Among top priorities for the year ahead are funds for road improvements and continued support of the N.C. Research Campus.