Civic Leaders Allege Housing Discrimination by Town

LENORA MITCHELL Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles

LENORA MITCHELL
Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles

JANE CABARRUS Northampton NAACP

JANE CABARRUS
Northampton NAACP

ALICE COLESBayview Citizens for Social Justice

ALICE COLES
Bayview Citizens for Social Justice



By DORIE SOUTHERN

Cape Charles Wave

January 24, 2013

Three prominent  civic leaders have expressed concern to elected state officials over alleged discriminatory housing practices by the Town of Cape Charles.

The civic leaders are Lenora Mitchell, president of Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles; Alice Coles, president of Bayview Citizens for Social Justice; and Jane Cabarrus, president of Northampton County NAACP.

The three leaders want elected officials to know that the sales contract for the Town’s old school stipulates that apartments to be built in the school may not be rented to persons receiving government subsidies.

The apartment developer, Echelon Resources, has applied for  federal and state tax credits totaling 45 percent of construction costs.

The Town of Cape Charles awarded Echelon a no-bid contract for the school for the price of $10. The property is assessed at $921,000.

The Town also agreed to transfer $41,000 insurance proceeds to Echelon, and to reduce utility hookup fees by 75 percent.

“We question why, and how, a developer could receive government assistance to build apartments while explicitly excluding people relying on government assistance from living in those apartments,” the civic leaders wrote in a letter.

One letter went to State Senator Ralph Northam, and another to Virginia Delegate Lynwood Lewis, with copies to Senator Tim Kaine and Northampton Supervisor Willie Randall. [Read more…]

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