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Housing Call: December 13, 2022

Federal Updates

  • Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are still working to reach an agreement on a final spending bill for fiscal year (FY) 2023 before December 16, when the current continuing resolution (CR) expires. Congress is expected to pass a stopgap spending patch this week that pushes the funding deadline for another week or more in order to continue negotiations, although Democrats have said that a full-year continuing resolution could be on the table if a deal can’t be reached. The FY23 spending bill is one of the last opportunities this year for Congress to make robust investments in affordable housing and homelessness programs. Congress must not pass up the chance to provide the significant funding needed to ensure safe, affordable, and accessible housing for all.
  • S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) of Oregon introduced legislation to limit the number of homes that can be owned by corporate landlords. Merkley is pushing a bill, the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act, which would limit how many single-family houses companies can own. The penalty would be $20,000 for each home over 100 homes. Companies with more than 100 homes would be able to sell their homes over multiple years to come into compliance. The bill also has incentives to encourage the companies to sell to “ordinary people who will live in the home.”

 

State & Local Community

  • The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to three action plans for Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds in areas of the state impacted by hurricanes Matthew and Florence. The proposed amendments are intended to expand programs to help more North Carolinians benefit from ongoing disaster recovery work. The public comment periods for opened on Dec. 9 and close at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023 for CDBG-DR and Monday, Jan. 23, 2023 for CDBG-Mitigation. Draft action plan amendments and more details can be found on NCORR’s website.
  • The joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, Subcommittee on Hurricane Response & Recovery is meeting this week on Wednesday, December 14 at 10:00am to share updates from September. We will let you know how it goes.
  • Outreach Mission Inc. received support from the Truist foundation for the purposes of funding the construction of a new community shelter in Sanford. The shelter will be the first co-ed shelter in Sanford, with spaces for both men and women. It will have 76 beds and space for families to stay together.
  • The Winston Salem Housing Authority broke ground on a new affordable housing community funded through HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Grant. 81 units will be built at the site, which is just the beginning of a five-phase plan to build more than 400 units over the next 4 years in the Northeast Winston-Salem Community. The units are expected to be a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments.
  • Residents of an affordable apartment building with LIHTC financing in Davidson are facing uncertainty as the affordability period for the project is set to expire. The Davidson Housing Coalition and Mosaic Development Group own the property along with a private investor who benefits from the federal tax reduction. The two nonprofits intend to maintain ownership of the property once the tax investor exits the project and have been negotiating to try and make that happen. Residents were notified that monthly rent will go up, although there’s been some back and forth about by how much. They are concerned that those who cannot afford the rent increase likely can’t afford to move out. A meeting has been scheduled between the nonprofit property owners and residents at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 15 in the community building on the property.

 

Events

 

Reports & Resources

 

In the News

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Housing Call: December 6, 2022

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