Dave Chappelle is receiving pushback after threatening to pull his businesses out of Yellow Springs, Ohio, should the village council pass a zoning ordinance that included dozens of affordable housing units, but comedian Katie Halper said the truth surrounding the controversy is more complicated than headlines are making it appear.
“I think that, shockingly enough, the headlines about the story are incredibly misleading,” she told Hill.TV’s “Rising” on Thursday. “This is not an affordable housing project, an affordable housing endeavor we are seeing. This is the case of a real estate company that’s building a development, and of the 55 acres of this development, they are promising to set aside under two acres for ‘affordable housing.'”
“And we see this happen a lot,” she continued. “It’s an attempt to get a tax write-off for a private enterprise, basically.”
She said the controversy might bring an opportunity to discuss and explore housing issues in the nation, adding that “the truth is, celebrities won’t save us or provide affordable housing,” and neither will real estate companies.
Halper also cited an article from the Dayton Daily News that she described as saying the real estate company, Oberer, would not necessarily be the company that develops affordable housing and that they will ask for proposals later.
“So obviously, the affordable housing element is not a priority because they may not even be developing that part,” she said. “They don’t even have the proposals.”
Halper said she is glad people are on the side of affordable housing, but that the way the story is framed is misleading.
She said the framing that if it weren’t for “Dave Chappelle getting up at a council meeting, we would be having affordable housing,” is misleading because “the truth is we don’t prioritize affordable housing.”
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