Legislators returned to Raleigh this week after a month-long adjournment. Session is only scheduled to reconvene on a monthly basis through the end of the long legislative session, with final adjournment either on November 5 or December 16, 2025.
Of the more than 1,700 bills filed so far this session, more than 150 of these bills related in some way to one or more of our five policy priority areas:
- Funding for Housing: Increase housing investments to meet the scale of the need
- Disaster Recovery: Meet immediate recovery needs and prepare for future disasters
- Statewide Coordination: Strengthen our state housing infrastructure and improve coordination
- Protection for Renters and Homeowners: Improve access to quality, affordable housing and prevent displacement
- Land Use and Development: Inform local policies and support equitable land use reform
Of the 150 bills related to our policy priority areas, thirty bills related to our housing and community development policy priorities survived the crossover deadline on May 8. Legislation enacted this session related to our priority areas includes:
- HB 47 & HB 1012: Disaster recovery relief bills that bring the total amount of post-Helene aid appropriated by the NCGA to $1.6 Billion. Disappointingly, neither bill includes much-needed additional rental or mortgage assistance.
- HB 251: Disaster recovery reforms related to historic flood event building code exemptions, nondiscrimination in state disaster recovery assistance, theft of temporary housing during an emergency, and automatic adoption of temporary federal relief in hospitals during disasters.
- SB 690 & HB 762: Real estate and mortgage industry technical changes & updates
- HB 173: Local zoning & land use provisions, including temporarily limiting extraterritorial jurisdiction expansion in Wake County.
- SB 266 (veto-override): Contentious energy bill that shifts costs from shareholders & industrial customers to residential customers.
- HB 96: Expedited removal of squatters (expected to be signed by Governor Stein with the removal of the pet shop provision).
While there has been substantial conversation around housing, bills that would streamline housing and help bring down the cost of development such as H765, bills like HB 59 that would expand property tax relief, and revisions that corral HOA powers like in S378 fell short of reaching the governor’s desk despite their promising elements and ideas that have shown success in other states across the country.
On the negative side, dangerous policy proposals that criminalize people experiencing homelessness and increase barriers to access housing, such as H781, moved at an uncomfortably fast pace through at least one chamber. And, as of July 31, 2025 – despite the recent passing of a mini-budget, there is no FY25-27 budget, and no funding for the Workforce Housing Loan program at the moment. We hope that in the coming months as additional funding packages are considered, the general assembly will restore funding to WHLP and protect the investment by making it a recurring allocation. Without it, hundreds of units for our workforce, our families, and seniors across our state may not exist without this critical gap financing tool.
To view our bill tracker for bills that survived crossover, check out this link.
