Housing Call: April 18, 2023 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Updates

Bringing It Home Conference is less than a month away: On May 2-3, we’re offering 18 live, interactive workshops designed to help you strengthen your services and advocacy for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Topics include increasing your organization’s capacity, fair housing protections, amplifying the voices of lived expertise, and evidence-based policy making on homelessness and evictions. Our speakers include both local and national experts who will share their successes and provide practical examples for how you can help end homelessness in NC. View the full agenda now and register today! Space is limited, and registration closes April 28.

Federal Updates

HUD Awards $98 million in choice neighborhoods implementation grants and opens a new $10 million funding opportunity for local planning efforts. The Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants assist in the redevelopment of severely distressed HUD-assisted properties into mixed-income communities. The additional $10 million in Planning Grants to support local planning efforts in order to develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy or Transformation Plan.

State Legislative Updates

Bill Tracker

Check out our Bill Tracker, which is updated with the latest housing-related bills with brief summaries. Here are a few of the bills that have been filed since we last spoke:

4/10

HB 595 – Rental Inspections
HB 594 – Disabled Veterans Homestead Exclusion Prequalification

4/13

HB 620 – Up Minimum Wages/No Subminimum or Exemptions

4/17

HB 645 – Inclusionary Zoning/Workforce Housing funds
HB 637 – Expand Property Tax Homestead Circuit Breaker

We also wanted to discuss a bit about the bills recently filed and the potential opportunity we are seeing for several of the pieces of various bills to come together and be more transformative in the housing space. We want to discuss them through the following framework (reference Affordable City).

These four domains are interconnected and In order to make progress in any one area, we need to move the needle in all 4 areas.

Stability	HB551=SB553 – Landlord Tenant and HOA Changes HB 584/SB 633 – Mobile Home Park Act, SB 420 – Homebuyer Fairness & Protection Act HB 379 – Fair Use of Consumer Reports SB 167 – Source of Income SB 667 – Regulation of Short Term Rentals
Subsidy	HB 569=SB55 – Working Families Act SB 424 – Restore the American Dream HB 208 – Low Income Housing Tax Credits
Infrastructure	SB 568 – Create Department of Housing and Community Development
Supply	SB 317 – Addressing the Workforce Housing Crisis HB 537 – Workforce Housing Act HB 294 – Housing Choice Incentive HB 409 – Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units

Call for Advocates!

[“positive thank you energy”] Again, we want to say thank you to Sen. Sydney Batch for her amazing leadership this session to ensure that North Carolinians have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.
SB 420 (First Primary sponsor, Homebuyer Fairness and Protection Act)
SB 422 (first primary, Homes for Heroes)
SB 424 (First primary, Restore American Dream)
SB 568 (First primary, HCD dept creation)
Zenger for H537 – Primary Sponsor Workforce Housing Act
We’d also like to lift up Rep. Vernetta Alston
HB 379 (first primary sponsor, Fair Use of Consumer Reports)
HB 294 (first primary sponsor, NC Housing Choice Incentive)
HB 637 (first primary sponsor, Expand Property Tax Homestead Circuit Breaker)
Budget: Getting letter to senate appropriators this week. Click here to view the generic letter. Feel free to share this letter or use its main points when reaching out to your state senators, particularly those working on appropriations.

State & Local Updates

The city of Winston-Salem is using ARPA funds to start a right-to-counsel program in partnership with Legal Aid- NC. Low-to-moderate income tenants facing eviction can apply to receive legal assistance. The goal of the program is to divert evictions which, they hope will ensure housing stability by reducing the likelihood of housing displacement and potential homelessness.
Durham Planning Board members voted overwhelmingly to not recommend a proposed redevelopment at Southpoint Mall to City Council. The main reservation planning board members expressed about the redevelopment of parking lots into office, hotel, and apartments was the lack of affordable housing – none of 1,382 planned apartments in the redevelopment would be affordable.
The City of Raleigh recently launched a Home Revitalization Program to assist low-income homeowners located along transit corridors with repairs and accessibility updates. The program aims to preserve affordability and is funded by Raleigh’s $80M housing bond that passed in 2020.
Just last week, a Wake County Survey indicated that more than half of residents surveyed believe cost of living and affordable housing should be a top priority for the County.
The Town of Tarboro was recently selected for the International City/County Management Assoc.’s Economic Mobility Opportunity Cohort. The Town will receive $30K for a housing needs study. In 2016, flooding from Hurricane Matthew significantly impacted Tarboro’s housing stock.

Events

[virtual] Second Hearing on Appraisal Bias | Federal Housing Finance Agency, 5/19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m
- Explores the current regulatory framework for the appraisal industry, focusing on appraisal standards, appraiser qualification criteria, barriers to entry into the profession, and appraisal practices
[in-person] 2023 CAHEC Partners Conference | 6/6-6/7, Raleigh Convention Center [registration closes 5/22]