UUFR 75th anniversary post #14: An Overview of One Wake by Jim Hurdis
UUFR 75th Anniversary Post #14: An Overview of ONE Wake
by Jim Hurdis
Our ONE Wake Organizing Team facilitates our involvement in ONE Wake, a community organizing effort of more than 40 other congregations working to address affordable housing, mental health, and public transportation in Wake County. In the 2020 virtual assembly, more than 200 UUFR members attended. In the 2024 assembly 100 members attended in person and several more online. In just four years we have been part of several successes including
- In 2020 we encouraged Wake County and The City of Raleigh to provide over $15 million for emergency shelters for the homeless during the covid pandemic
- Encouraged the town of Holly Springs in 2021 to approve 124 units of affordable housing for seniors.
- Asked for a Wake Forest developer in 2021 to provide moving expenses to the residents of Wellington Mobile Home Park. They received $380,000.
- Worked with the Town of Cary in 2021 to create a penny for housing property tax. In 2022, the Town in allocated of $9 million for its first affordable housing project. Currently the Town of Cary has a bond referendum for $30 million for affordable housing projects.
- In 2022, we encouraged Wake County Commissioners to address the rising housing cost burden with a $5million investment.
- In 2023, we won commitments from the candidates for the Cary Town Council and the Zebulon Board of Commissioners to commit $13 million to affordable housing.
- Thirty ONE Wake leaders, elected officials and key County staff visited the Nehemiah Project in Brooklyn, New York to learn how 6,500 affordable homes have been created, generating $1.5 billion in equity for first time home buyers.
- In 2023, ONE Wake worked with Zebulon leaders to create an SmartRide Microtransit Program
- In 2023, we helped start the Raleigh HEART Pilot Program and Mental Health First Aid Training (county wide) for mental health.
