Dave Chappelle has denied shutting down a plan for affordable housing in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Plans for the development were voted down after residents including the comedian voiced strong opposition.
The 2-2 vote scuttled plans for a housing development from Oberer Homes, which would include 64 single-family homes, 52 duplexes, 24 townhomes, and the donation of a 1.75 acre plot to the community on which to eventually build affordable housing.
Instead, the developer will move forward with its previous plan to build 143 single-family homes on the property, despite the town council negotiating for more than a year with the company to secure an affordable housing carveout.
During a public meeting about the vote on Tuesday (8 February), Chappelle, who has a Netflix comedy deal with more than $120m, threatened to withdraw his substantial business interests from the town of under 4,000 if the affordable housing plan went through.
“I am not bluffing,” he said in a video of the meeting that went viral. “I will take it all off the table.”
Following criticism, Chappelle’s representative told Yahoo Entertainment: “Dave Chappelle didn’t kill affordable housing. Concerned residents and a responding village council ‘killed’ a half-baked plan which never actually offered affordable housing.”
They added: “Without question, Dave Chappelle cares about Yellow Springs. He’s sewn into the fabric of the village. The passion with which he delivered his comments during the village council meeting was just as evident as when he fought to create living-wage jobs with his famed ‘Summer Camp’ for residents during the height of the Covid pandemic.
“Neither Dave nor his neighbours are against affordable housing, however, they are against the poorly vetted, cookie-cutter, sprawl-style development deal which has little regard for the community, culture and infrastructure of the Village.”
They claimed that the development deal is “cloaked as an affordable housing plan” but is in actual fact “anything but affordable”, adding: “Three out of 143 lots would have been for ‘future’ affordable housing. The rest of the homes were to be priced between $250k and upwards of $600k.
“In Yellow Springs, and in many other places, that is not considered affordable housing. Instead, it’s an accelerant on the homogenisation of Yellow Springs.”
