Housing Call: May 30, 2023 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Organizational Updates

Registered attendees can now view the recordings of each session by going to the Bringing It Home conference desktop page or mobile app and selecting the session on the agenda. Recordings will be available until August 3, 2023.
We’re changing Policy Updates by including them in our weekly Housing Call notes rather than as a separate biweekly blog. Have ideas for resources or pieces that would be helpful for your work? Send them our way! Email swatkinscruz@nchousing.org or apatterson@nchousing.org

Federal Update

Debt Ceiling – President Biden and Speaker McCarthy struck a debt limit deal over the weekend that lifts the debt ceiling through January 2025. Leaders hope to have it pass the House floor on Wednesday, to be able to work through it by the June 5 deadline given by U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. See the full text of the agreement here.

Other elements of the deal include:

The agreement calls for capping FY24 spending at FY23 levels and a 1% increase in FY25 spending. It aims to limit federal budget growth to 1% for the next six years but that would not be enforceable until 2025.
It would reduce government spending by an estimated $1 trillion.
The bill matches Biden’s proposed defense budget of $886 billion and allots $704 billion for nondefense spending.
It requires Congress to approve 12 annual spending bills or face a snapback to spending limits from the previous year which would mean a 1% cut.
It fully funds medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget blueprint.
The deal includes increased work requirements for SNAP and TANF programs.
- The bill would bring the maximum age from 49 to 54 by 2025.
- It would be slightly harder for states to waive work requirements for SNAP for certain individuals by lowering the number of exemptions that a state can issue and curb states’ ability to carry over the number from month to month.
The agreement would clawback about $30 billion in unspent coronavirus relief money – unobligated money from dozens of federal programs that received aid during the pandemic including rental assistance, small business loans and broadband for rural areas. Critical Emergency Housing Vouchers and Emergency Rental Assistance funds have been spared.
The agreement protects pandemic funding for veterans’ medical care, and housing assistance.
Ends the pause on student loan repayment, which is anticipated to happen in late August of this year.

Because of inflation, higher rents, interest rate hikes, and capping of the federal budget, this freeze acts as a significant cut to affordable housing and homelessness assistance.

In FY24 alone, HUD needs about $13-$16 billion in additional funding just to maintain current levels of assistance. Without this additional funding, tens of thousands of households will be at risk of losing rental assistance.

Read the following statement from NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel on the Debt Ceiling Agreement.

State Updates

We will be at the general assembly this week to talk about housing investments in the NC FY23-25 – more to come on these meetings and budget talks as well as the bills that are still live and active that we’re tracking in the coming weeks.

Check out a piece we published on our website last week – Overview of Key Housing Appropriations in NC and Why They Matter. We’ll be releasing a downloadable version of the chart in this piece soon.

Check out our bill tracker here and our gallery of bills that survived crossover here. Reach out to us if you have any questions.
- Remember that bills that made crossover are still live AND elements from other bills that did not make crossover still could make it into other bills and ultimately whatever final form of the budget for FY 23-25 that is reached.

You can find a full list of the bills that made crossover (not only the ones we are tracking) by clicking here.

Local Community Updates

Mountain Housing Opportunities acquires 75 units of special needs housing. This event marks an expansion in its portfolio serving residents o fWestern North Carolina. MHO was able to acquire and preserve 75 units of special needs housing scattered across 20 properties in Buncombe County. These properties serve as homes for about 90 residents with varying intellectual and developmental disabilities, severe and persistent mental illness, and other special needs.
Asheville housing authority announces new CEO; What are future plans for public housing? In April the Housing Authority of Asheville welcomed Monique Pierre in a planned transition to precede former CEO David Nash, who will retire on June 30. Pierre is the first woman and first African American woman to lead the housing authority since it was founded in 1940. Pierre has said she will focus on building relationships and exploring partnerships and that her first goal is “to improve and stabilize the housing stock that’s currently in our hands.” The agency administers 3,350 Federal HCV which includes 1,525 project-based vouchers located in the 10 housing authority communities around the City of Asheville. It is the largest housing agency in Western North Carolina and serves over 6,500 people.
New zoning will begin in Charlotte this week. When the new Unified Development Ordinance takes effect on Thursday, June 1, duplexes and triplexes can be built by-right on any property zoned for single family housing. The city expects that this zoning will allow for greater density and thus increase affordability.
Weavers Grove Celebrates the Start of Construction for New Community – Chapelboro.com. A project about 20 years in the making is set to start construction. A recent celebration took place at Weavers Grove, the future site of 102 Habitat for Humanity Homes. Weavers Grove is set to be a mixed-income community offering affordable homeownership to Habitat families and to market-rate homebuyers. Of the 237 single family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and condominiums, 101 will be Habitat homes owned by people who live or work in Orange County. The remaining market-rate homes will offer new opportunities for Chapel HIll homebuyers at price ranges lower than today’s median home price. This project is one of few in the nation for Habitat, setting a “new precedent for mixed-income living” and coming in at about $30 million.

Durham Council Signals Support for Major Affordable Housing Proposal – INDY Week

At a city council work session last Thursday, the non-profit Housing for New Hope (HNH) asked the city for over $3 million dollars for a $6 million dollar project they hope to pursue that would preserve and develop over 100 residences. By acquiring 531 E Carver Street, Housing for New Hope would be able to develop and preserve 100-120 units of supporting units. This location which is next to another HNH property would accommodate 45 of the new units and allow for the current tenants to remain housed. The commissioners’ commitment is contingent on the City Council’s official approval of the project.

Can’t afford an attorney? Need help from civil court? New Wake center wants to help. The new Wake County Legal Support Center, which opened in January of this year, is already proving to be a significant help for families and individuals with low incomes and keeping their housing or navigating related civil legal issues. A result of a partnership between the Tenth Judicial District Bar, Wake County and Raleigh officials, the Administrative Office of Courts, and others to open the center. Wake County committed $290,000 annually for three years, and other organizations have provided various other forms of assistance like computers, other grants, and additional assistance.

The Choanoke Area Development Association (CADA) recently received a $40K grant from the SECU Foundation. The grant is intended to expand the organization’s capacity to address affordable housing needs in Northampton, Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, and Martin counties.The Funding will be used to conduct a comprehensive community housing needs assessment

Events

[in-person] Foothills Community Housing Fair | Hickory NAACP Equity and Inclusion Task Force. 6/3, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Ridgeview Recreation Center (Hickory)
NC Women’s Affordable Housing Network (NCWAHN) Happy Hour | 6/6 in Charlotte, more details to come!
[webinar] The State of the Nation’s Housing 2023 | Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 6/21, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.