If you’ve never contributed to WakeUP, here are a few reasons why we think you should!
Wake County’s Recent, Unprecedented Growth
As the second fastest growing county in the U.S, Wake County is in the midst of remarkable growth and change. Our population is presently growing by about 22,000 people per year, and there are no signs of things slowing anytime soon. According to official projections, Wake County’s population could reach an astounding 1.45 million people within the next 20 years!
In the midst of this growth and change, residents need a trusted organization that will provide well researched information and best practices from peer communities for achieving and maintaining responsible, sustainable growth.
Wake County Lacks an Adequate Supply of Affordable Housing
Today in Wake County, there are approximately 56,000 low-income households unable to find affordable housing. Over the next 20 years, this number is expected to increase to as much as 150,000 due to continued loss of affordable housing and growth in demand.
Lack of affordable housing has had an especially pronounced impact on school children in Wake County. Over the last five years alone, the number of Wake County Public School children experiencing homelessness has skyrocketed, increasing 60% since the 2014-2015 academic year.
In the coming year, we look forward to building on the success of our 2019 Affordable Housing Forum, which brought together a diverse group of residents, elected officials, and members of the development community to learn more about and discuss the affordable housing plans of Raleigh and Wake County.
As we stated in our call-to-action to the City of Raleigh, WakeUP supports a solution to our housing affordability problem that is, above all else, holistic, forward-thinking, and equitable. As such,we support re-evaluating exclusionary land use policies, planning around transit, implementing new programs to better protect vulnerable residents, establishing new partnerships and revenue streams, and prioritizing direct engagement with impacted and historically marginalized communities.
Not All Communities Are Sharing the Benefits of Our Growth
At a time when 56 new residents move to Wake County each day, we need to work hard to make sure that all communities share equally in the benefits of our region’s growth. To date, that has not been the case. Despite tremendous growth and economic development in some areas, concentrated poverty and displacement through gentrification are on the rise.
This past summer, we published an interactive blog post illustrating the major ways in which neighborhoods have changed throughout Wake County over the past two decades. Out of 35 census tracts we identified as having changed substantially since 2000, 51 percent showed a change in the direction of concentrated poverty. Meanwhile, 17 percent showed signs of displacement through gentrification.
As Wake County continues to grow, we also need to make sure that all residents have access to clean drinking water. Recently, Wake County notified thousands of households on private wells that their drinking water might be contaminated with unhealthy levels of radiological chemicals, such as uranium and radon. Among the 40,000 private wells in Wake County, approximately half are in the eastern part of the county. Estimates are that about one in five of those wells — 4,000 to 6,000 — need to be tested.
Gentrification, Combined with Automobile Dependence and Restrictions on Higher Density Development, are Worsening the Effects of Climate Change
Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the U.S. today, and scientists warn that we need to cut carbon emissions by 45 percent over the next decade in order to avoid the worst effects of a warming climate. However, due to urban sprawl and a lack of convenient transit options, including inadequate bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure, nearly 90 percent of Wake County residents commute to work everyday by private automobile.
On top of this, growth pressures such as gentrification are only making matters worse, as residents displaced from their long-time neighborhoods almost inevitably need to drive greater distances each day to work and to school.
Next year, WakeUP plans to prioritize the vital roles that local governments and individual residents can play in addressing climate change. Although climate change is a global threat, we believe the solution begins here at the local level.
If everyone in Wake County who presently drives to work alone were to replace just one mile of driving each week with one mile per week of walking or riding a bicycle, we would eliminate about 11,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year locally. That’s the equivalent annual savings of nearly 490,000 trash bags of waste recycled instead of sent to a landfill!
When You Support WakeUP Wake County, You Support Equitable Engagement, Responsible Growth, and Sound Policy
We’re proud of all we’ve accomplished over the past year, but we know there’s so much work left to do to make sure that Wake communities continue on the path of responsible, sustainable, and equitable growth.
In the coming year, we’re excited to continue working on our core issues by supporting environmental initiatives like green schools, facilitating more conversation around housing affordability, and promoting bold action on transit. At the same time, we’re looking forward to tackling new projects centered around what ordinary residents can do at the local level to help fight climate change.
Wake County is presently at a crossroads of change. But together we can chart a path from the challenges we face today to the exciting new opportunities we know we can ALL share in tomorrow.