Policy Update 2-7-23 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Updates

Save the Date for the Bringing it Home Conference! Join us on May 2 – 3 for the 2023 Bringing It Home: Ending Homelessness in NC virtual conference, featuring Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley.

This year’s conference will also include a panel discussion with the NC Balance of State CoC Lived Expertise Advisory Council, a virtual speed networking session, a mindfulness session, and a variety of interactive workshops. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details!

County Profiles. If you haven’t already been able to check out our 2023 County Profiles, please do so! Feel free to share them with your networks, elected officials, fellow advocates, and any interested parties.

If you have questions about our County Profiles please feel free to reach out to Anna Patterson, apatterson@nchousing.org and/or Stephanie Watkins-Cruz at swatkinscruz@nchousing.org.

2023 Policy Agenda. Another helpful resource to share with elected officials or to use in your own advocacy and organizing efforts, is our 2023 Policy Agenda, which we will also link in the call notes.

For questions about our Policy Agenda, email Stephanie Watkins-Cruz at swatkinscruz@nchousing.org or Samuel Gunter at sgunter@nchousing.org.

Federal Updates

Debt Ceiling and FY24 Budget Appropriations. President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy met recently to begin federal spending negotiations. The US reached the debt limit in January and House Speaker McCarthy indicates he will require Democrats to reduce spending in exchange for talk of raising the debt ceiling. Housing advocates are concerned that HUD spending could be affected in the FY24 budget. President Biden would like to see Congress pass a clean debt ceiling increase and keep appropriations separate from debt ceiling negotiations. See the NLIHC writeup for more info.

Global Minimum Tax guidance protects community development tax credits. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework released guidance on the Global Minimum Tax. The guidance protects investors’ appetite for community development tax credits, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), new market tax credit (NMTC), historic tax credit (HTC), and renewable energy tax credit (RETC).

Bipartisan NMTC bill introduced in the Senate. A New Market Tax Credit permanence bill was introduced for the sixth consecutive session of congress. The legislation does 3 things:

Makes the NTMC, which is set to expire in 2025, a permanent part of the U.S. Tax Code
Applies an inflation adjuster to every NMTC allocation round after 2023, and
Exempts NMTCs made after Dec. 31, 2022 from the Alternative Minimum Tax

HUD funding addresses rural and unsheltered homelessness. HUD awarded $315 million to CoCs across the US to address unsheltered and rural homelessness. NC was awarded $22.3M. The NC Balance of State will receive almost $21.9M to address unsheltered and rural homelessness. The Northwest NC CoC, which covers Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, and Yancey counties, will receive $450K to address rural homelessness.

Biden-Harris Administration Releases Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights. Last Wednesday, the Biden-Harris Administration released a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights designed to increase fairness in the rental market. Over the weekend, National Low Income Housing Coalition president Diane Yentel spoke with NPR about the plan. She noted that one of the most significant advances included in this document is the addition of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s new process to examine proposed actions promoting renter protections and limits on egregious rent increases for future investments. Yet, Yentel also acknowledged that this is a very limited document that only promises to engage in a process to consider rent protections. This comes after criticism of the administration failing to hold corporate landlords accountable for predatory behaviors, even after after a year-long Housing Committee investigation found evidence that 4 major corporate landlords engaged in such behaviors during and after the height of the pandemic. Check out this fact sheet from the White House to learn more about the Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights.

HUD Announces 100,000+ Housed through Homelessness Initiative. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge announced that the “House America” homelessness initiative has resulted in over 100,000 families experiencing homelessness being housed and 40,000 units of affordable housing in the pipeline. The initiative, which began in September 2021, provides 105 communities across the U.S. with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to address homelessness and create permanent housing opportunities. Across NC, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Durham are participating in the program.

HUD Announces $116M for FSS Programs. HUD also announced over $116 million in new and renewal funding for the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) Programs. In NC, 53 PHAs received renewal funding for FSS Coordinator positions and 3 PHAs received new funding:

Robeson County Housing Authority
Roanoke Chowan Regional Housing Authority
Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity, Inc.

Families in HUD-assisted housing who opt to participate in the FSS program are provided coaching, referred to services and establish a family escrow savings account. In a show of continuing bipartisan support for this 30-year-old program, FSS was appropriated $125 million in FY23 Budget.

State and Local Updates

SB 53 (Hotel Safety Issues) is on the agenda for the NC Senate Judiciary Committee meeting today at 11AM. SB 53 is the same as HB 352 that Governor Cooper vetoed in 2021. The bill drastically changes the way people living in motels are treated, especially when it comes to evictions. It denies folks who have been living in a motel for less than 90 days of landlord/tenant protections that have been in place for over 30 years. The Coalition is opposed to this legislation as we were in 2021.

Charlotte launches homebuyer assistance pilot. The City of Charlotte’s House Charlotte Plus pilot program is now providing up to $80K in assistance to low income homebuyers in certain Charlotte neighborhoods designated as “Neighborhoods of Opportunity.” The pilot program expands on the existing House Charlotte program, which provides interest-free loans of up to $30K to qualifying low-income families purchasing a home. The loans are forgiven after 30 years.

South Charlotte rezoning application submitted to build grocery store and preserve/create market rate and affordable housing. Three developers, including Inlivian’s (the Charlotte Housing Authority) nonprofit development arm, filed rezoning applications recently with plans that include the creation and preservation of over 300 units of affordable housing. A public hearing and vote for the rezoning of the Providence Square Shopping Center area will be held in the coming months.

More short-term rentals than hotel rooms in Buncombe County. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority recently announced that short-term rentals now outnumber hotel rooms in Asheville and Buncombe County. The City of Asheville’s 2023 legislative agenda outlines their opposition to any policy efforts that may arise in the General Assembly this year to limit local government’s ability to regulate short-term rentals.

Dare County Commissioners prioritize housing in 2023. Dare County Board of Commissioners highlighted essential and workforce housing as one of their top priorities at a recent State of the County event. Like many counties with high costs of living, Dare County faces an ongoing struggle to provide affordable housing for essential employees like teachers, firefighters, and hospital employees. Our recently released County Profiles indicate that 53% of Dare County renters are cost burdened. The County is working with developers Woda Cooper and Coastal Affordable Housing to achieve their goal of developing 400-500 units of workforce housing.

Osage Mill Renovation project breaks ground in Gaston County. WinnCompanies broke ground on a $35M adaptive reuse project at Osage Mill in Bessemer City. The renovation will create 139 affordable apartments for people in the Charlotte metro area earning at or below 60% of the Area Median Income. The projects leverages the federal HIstorical Tax Credit and NC’s Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit program with a 4% LIHTC award.

Renter Rising Housing Rally in Charlotte. Community activists and renters held a Renters Rising housing rally outside of Invitation Homes’ corporate office in Charlotte last Wednesday. Renters Rising is “a national alliance of renters working to shift the balance of power between renters and corporate landlords to guarantee that renters are able to live with dignity.” The group called for a 3% cap on rent increases and a grievance process for tenants.

Chapel Hill public hearing on upzoning extended to next month. Chapel Hill Town Council received feedback from residents regarding plans to upzone some neighborhoods in an effort to create more “missing middle” housing. Upzoning increases housing density by allowing for more types of housing, like duplexes, triplexes, and ADs. Council voted to continue the public hearing to February 22 and will hold info sessions on January 31 and February 2. This past year, the Town of Chapel Hill allocated $9.1M towards affordable housing.

Events