Joe Czajka received the Alice Dickinson Legacy Award for his work in housing
Pattern Senior Vice President Joe Czajka was given a very special honor on March 31. Below is a slightly condensed version of the acceptance speech Joe gave at the RDAC (Rural Development Advisory Corporation) Legacy Luncheon held in Montgomery.
Thank you Faith and thank you RDAC.
Today I am being honored with the Alice Dickinson Legacy Award. Wow. I consider myself an extremely blessed man.
I am deeply honored to have been selected for this award. Whenever I hear Alice’s name – my heart fills with a sense of warmth, gratitude, respect and a sense that everything will be alright.
Alice had a way about her of always making things ok.
I first met Alice in 1991 when I started working for the Orange County Office of Community Development. She was working on at least 5 or 6 major projects that all provided assistance to families in need of housing.
I immediately knew I could learn a lot from her. Alice was a mentor, a colleague, an advocate and she gave a voice to many people who just did not have one. Most of all Alice was a great friend.
I first met Faith when she was just a teenager – I was in a meeting with Alice and Faith had just gotten her driver’s license.
Clearly Faith has grown into an extremely intelligent, respected, dedicated, confident and wonderful person –
Alice would be so proud of the work Faith does and how she is continuing to carrying out the mission of RDAC
Today — I am truly fortunate to be working for Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress – a regional organization that prioritizes housing and community development.
Pattern allows me the platform to take more than 26 years of experience and knowledge in housing, community development, neighborhood revitalization, housing finance and strategic planning to provide assistance to communities, agencies and municipalities in planning and policy and allows me to be an advocate for affordable housing
How lucky am I to be able to do what I love as my job.
I admit I was a bit stunned and got choked up when I learned that I would be receiving this Legacy Award. I feel many other people in the housing and community development field are worthy of this award.
I am honored to stand in front of all of you, my peers, colleagues, coworkers and friends. So again I want to express my gratitude.
I strongly feel this is an award for the many mentors, co-workers and friends that have been in my life and that are still in my life – I have an amazing support network and community.
I also want to thank my wife Michele who puts up with me every day and has supported me in all my adventures, crazy concepts and thinking outside the box.
I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone in the room about a few housing facts — perhaps I will be preaching to the choir a bit.
As you all know — I love numbers, power points and white boards …
Relax – I’m not going to break out the projector and screen.
But – I will remind everyone that :
- On a national level – 11million families can barely afford rent – affecting over 9 million children
- 1 in 4 renters are only one paycheck away from homelessness
- 1.8 million senior households struggle with rent
- In Orange County – 51% of all renters are living in unaffordable housing – which indicates they pay more than 30% of their income for rent
- 30% of all renters in Orange County are severely cost burdened – which means they pay more than 50% of their income toward rent
- Being a homeowner is not much better. 39% of the home owners are severely cost burdened
- Families shouldering these burdens face difficult decisions between rent and other essentials such as groceries and medicine
- These struggles are personal and often hidden from view
- No community – urban, suburban or rural is immune
- From Millennials to the Greatest Generation to working parents to the Sandwich Generation ——more and more of our neighbors struggle everyday
- The demand for affordable housing has far outstripped supply – driving up rents for working families
- Construction has been largely focused on high-end, luxury apartments as we have become a more transient society
- The national homeownership rate has plummeted to under 64% – the lowest it has been in decades
- Wages are stagnant and have simply not kept up with rents and the cost of maintaining a home
- Many of the new jobs being created are low paying, shift work and not located on public transit lines – getting to work is an issue for many families
- When kids grow up in unaffordable homes they are often forced to move frequently – which leads to educational issues and slower progress in math and reading skills
- When rents take up a vast majority of a family’s income – the trade off is health – they must forego essentials like quality food and medicineThis is why agencies like RDAC matter so deeply
- They provide hope and assistance for families struggling with the high cost of homeownership
- They help renters become homeowners so as they may begin to build assets and wealth
- There are many benefits of homeownership – I am not saying everyone should be a homeowner, but for those who are ready – they deserve the opportunity
- In their 33 year history — RDAC has built over 750 homes for a total investment of nearly $90million
- Every industry has an economic multiplier – which indicates the impact for every 1 new dollar has in the local economy – in housing it is $1.80 – so RDAC has had an estimated $160 million impact in our communities
- RDAC’s most recent accomplishments include assisting over 500 families in foreclosure counseling and have prevented over 250 families from losing their homes
Finally —
I want to end this beautiful day of celebrating RDAC’s accomplishments on an upbeat.
Everyone in this room can make a difference.
Support RDAC and the many agencies like RDAC.
When you see a family struggling — know there is hope out there and hope is spelled R D A C
Thank you very much.
