Affordable housing faces hurdle of bias

Both the waiting list for housing vouchers and the demand for affordable housing continues to grow in Carroll County, but stereotypes about work force housing will have to be shattered before it is embraced, housing advocates say.

People “visualize … 70-year-old black women who are going to come in from Baltimore and shoot up the neighborhood with AK-47s,” said James Upchurch, president of Interfaith Housing Alliance Inc., a nonprofit that has built affordable housing in Westminster, Hampstead, Union Bridge and Taneytown. “But the typical person is more likely to be their Aunt Milly.”