JENKINTOWN – Legislation to make affordable housing more equitable is top of mind for state Rep. Napoleon Nelson.
The Democratic lawmaker representing the 154th District in Montgomery County is working on state legislation that would do just that. Known as the CHAMP Act, it seeks to restore a better balance between municipal and county governments, ensuring each municipality supplies a certain amount of affordable housing units and shelters for its residents in need.
“I don’t want it to be flashy legislation. I don’t want it to be eye-catching legislation. I want it to be what it’s supposed to be, which is a real shift in the way we provide services to our unhoused neighbors,” Nelson said in a recent interview.
Nelson, 44, said he took inspiration from a California state senator, who previously introduced similar legislation. While it did not pass through the state government out West, Nelson hoped for a more favorable outcome in the Keystone State, with the CHAMP Act laying a new foundation to create more accountability.
Classified as HB 2098, the state legislation formally introduced on Tuesday amends the existing Pennsylvania Affordable Housing Act to implement the “municipal housing obligation program,” according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s website.
Along with Nelson, the bill was co-sponsored by nearly two dozen legislators, with Democratic State Reps. Melissa Cerrato, D-151st Dist.; Nancy Guenst, D-152nd Dist., and Ben Sanchez, D-153rd Dist. as the Montgomery County contingent.
Rising homelessness
The legislation comes as the county grapples with rising rates of homelessness and a housing crisis of its own.
“I mean certainly it is something that would make a world of difference in Montgomery County,” he said.
The story of the CHAMP Act is still being written as its prospects are not yet known in Harrisburg. While Nelson stressed that homelessness itself isn’t a partisan issue, he acknowledged that the “size of government is a partisan issue, and theoretically, the money needed to solve homelessness and housing is a partisan issue.”
“Because hopefully it’s the sort of thing that there are enough proponents so that the known opposition kind of has to be quiet,” he said. “The way this works is the county and all of your housing agencies say ‘yes, please, this is good legislation. This is (the) right change that we ought to make.’ The local governance organizations and entities don’t want the responsibility, but at the same time somebody has to take it. So maybe they’re neutral on the bill.”
Nelson previously spoke about his proposal informally during an affordable housing town hall last month at a West Norriton Township church. While it wasn’t the first time he’s talked about the initiative, it sparked a lengthy dialogue among attendees. Those conversations were crucial for officials in Nelson’s office as they used constituent feedback to inform their legislation.
“The folks in … Montgomery County don’t have zoning authority to force our municipalities to accept or build a homeless shelter,” Nelson said last month. “They don’t have the authority. The folks in the municipalities don’t have an obligation to provide housing.
“There’s disconnect where the folks with the responsibility to provide the social service don’t have the authority to provide it, and the folks with the authority to provide the social service don’t have responsibility to provide it,” he continued. “It’s just kind of this really odd, and almost obvious disconnect. So what we’re trying to do is to fix that.”
CHAMP meant to be guide
Nelson said he’s observed mostly congenial conversations regarding the CHAMP Act, with some concerns surrounding cost, procedures and how programs might be implemented locally. But, he stressed providing guidelines and recommendations is its main purpose.
“What we’re proposing actually doesn’t spend any money,” Nelson said, adding “what we’re proposing, it doesn’t solve the problem. The CHAMP Act at least solves the alignment issue that makes the problem nobody’s to solve.
“… It’s relatively simple: it says that municipalities, and actually those who have the responsibility of actually managing and maintaining zoning ordinances, are also the ones who then are responsible for ensuring for providing housing for the unhoused,” Nelson said.
He added that state, county and continuum of care representatives would partner to ensure “those sorts of solutions are being proposed” at the local level. Smaller municipalities could also work together to provide housing options.
Close to home and heart
Housing and homelessness are issues close to Nelson. His mother, Patrice, served as executive director of the North Carolina-based Urban Ministries of Durham for nearly a decade. The shelter serves roughly 850 children and adults, as the “largest homeless shelter in Durham,” Nelson said.
“So we had conversations, always,” Nelson said, referring to his mother often saying how the organization’s “mission was to end homelessness.” Questions popped into his mind, as he thought of the weight of his mother’s words: “what does that look like? How do you end homelessness?”
“This has been family work for years and years and years,” he said, adding “we talk an awful lot. She appreciates the work we’re trying to do, always.”
Career in service
Nelson began his career in public service serving on the Cheltenham School Board in 2011. While Nelson said he was aware of students experiencing homelessness and housing instability, he didn’t recall “dea(ling) with it an awful lot as a school board member and as a parent in that way.”
It wasn’t until Nelson became the township tax collector in 2018 that he got a glimpse into households on the brink.
“As the tax collector you see it pretty quickly,” Nelson said. “You see the people who are getting ready to lose their home.”
He later learned that one of his volunteers on his 2020 state representative campaign was homeless. Nelson continued hearing about homelessness following the election, as several of his new constituents faced eviction.
One woman was forced to leave an apartment with an affordable rent situation with nowhere to go. Another 14-unit apartment building in Glenside was shuttered due to insect infestation and gas issues.
“I had 14 homeless families in the first couple months on the job, and again, nowhere for them to go,” Nelson said.
Nelson remembered the Glenside building’s residents. Among them was a three-person household. While a mother and her son were able to stay with family, the mother’s boyfriend had to find somewhere else to go. Nelson found out “he was homeless and ended up overdosing on the SEPTA train.”
Their story still sticks with him.
“That’s what desperation does. That’s what not having some of the most basic needs like a roof over your head and the ability to be with your family. That’s what that does,” Nelson said.
High-cost housing
Officials have attributed rising rents, housing prices and increases to overall cost of living to the problem plaguing the state’s second wealthiest county. Figures reveal that 20 percent of Montgomery County homeowners are considered “cost burdened,” while 47 percent of renters pay more than 30 percent of their income to rent, according to county housing officials. Hundreds of people experience homelessness locally.
“It’s perhaps the most predictable in Montgomery County,” he said. “One of the things I do always wrestle with … (is) there is a difference between the efforts that we should be responsible around homelessness, and the efforts around ensuring there is affordable housing.
“There is clearly a direct connection between affordable housing and homelessness, which is why it’s kind of predictable in Montgomery County,” Nelson continued. “It’s so darn expensive there aren’t too many places where you can find affordable housing. It’s hard to get back on your feet in Montgomery County.”
The CHAMP Act is still in its early stages, but Nelson remained optimistic about the steps that could be taken to improve the situation. He stressed “what we’re talking about isn’t large scale building,” and instead smaller, strategic financial incentives could go a long way. But the key is getting stakeholders on the same page, he said.
“There are … plenty of ideas that the county can be able to say ‘how about we do this?’ That municipalities just have to say OK to,” Nelson said. “It could be as simple as going to your large apartment owners, and saying set aside three units, the next three units that become vacant.”
