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Housing Call: February 20, 2024

Organizational Updates

Save the Date for this year’s Bringing It Home: Ending Homelessness in NC conference on June 4-5, 2024 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh! For the first time since 2019, we will be back in person to learn, network, and collaborate with industry experts from across North Carolina and beyond. 

Bringing It Home: Ending Homelessness in NC is a statewide conference dedicated to ensuring that homelessness in North Carolina is rare, brief, and one time only. The two-day conference will include more than a dozen presentations, panels, and workshops covering a broad range of topics related to homelessness. There will also be opportunities to network and share your own insights with fellow professionals and advocates. The conference is hosted by the NC Housing Coalition, NC Coalition to End Homelessness, and the NC DHHS ESG Office. 

Registration will open in March. For updates, check our Bringing It Home 2024 Conference Page, or contact hsolomon@nchousing.org with any questions

Federal Updates

We are less than two weeks away from another potential federal shutdown – the first of two deadlines approaches –  March 1 – and the first half of the federal spending agreement is expected to top $1.7 trillion. The second half of the current funding is set to expire on March 8. And President Biden’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget is due out on March 11, which will begin additional spending debates to the mix. Note, they are currently in recess, until February 27th and 28th. 

One of the spending bills that must be ready by March 1, includes the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill that funds HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. Appropriators must reconcile the difference between the House and Senate draft spending bills which propose 10% and 13% increases to HUD’s budget respectively, however, neither bill provides sufficient funding to renal all existing Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) contracts upon turnover, meaning hundreds of thousands of households could lose their housing assistance. 

The biggest thing we want to emphasize to you all is to continue to reach out to your representatives in Congress! Urge them to make available:

  • Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
  • Increased funding for public housing operations and repairs.
  • At minimum, the Senate’s proposed $3.9 billion in funding for Homeless Assistance Grants.
  • The protection of the $20 million in funding for the Eviction Prevention Grant program provided in the Senate bill.
  • The House’s proposed $1.1 billion in funding for Native Housing.

Add your Organization to the Letter Urging Congress to Invest in Affordable Housing and Community Development Programs in Fiscal Year 2024.

Contact your representatives directly here.

HUD Announces nearly $130 million to Empower HUD-Assisted Families Towards Financial Stability and Savings. HUD awarded funding to 835 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) owners for the 2023 Renewal and Self Sufficiency (FSS) Program grants. 

State Updates

A reminder that Early Voting is underway! Many media and advocacy groups are asking local candidates about affordable housing. Before you head to the polls, do some research to see where candidates stand on various housing issues. Here are a few great resources: 

State Legislative Updates

The NC House Select Committee on Homeowners’ Associations reviewed 5 proposed recommendations at last week’s meeting. A draft bill was also presented and will be back before the committee on February 28. Final recommendations for the General Assembly are due March 1. Tentative recommendations in the draft bill include:

  1. Transparent and timely HOA records.  HOAs must provide records to their members within 30 days of receiving a written request. They are required to provide financial records for 3 years from the date of the request.  
  2. No large HOA assessment increases without the majority of owners’ approval.  A proposal to increase assessments by more than 10% requires the approval of the majority of all homeowners. 
  3. HOAs can’t foreclose on a house because the owner owes a small amount.  In order for the HOA to put a lien on a home, the homeowner must owe more than 6 months’ assessments or $2,500 (whichever is less). Before the HOA can initiate a foreclosure proceeding, they must offer the homeowner a reasonable payment plan schedule to cure the debt. 
  4. Mandatory mediation before filing a civil lawsuit. HOAs and their members must try to reach a resolution through mediation before they can file a civil action. 
  5. Creation of a statewide HOA complaint filing system. The NC Department of Justice will set up a system to receive complaints from both HOAs and homeowners and notify the other party of the dispute filing. The Attorney General’s office will  collect data annually on the nature of the complaints received, which will be made available to lawmakers and to the public on the AG’s website. 

We continue to keep an eye out for updates regarding the next steps or any details regarding negotiations between the NC Department of Insurance and The North Carolina Rate Bureau – an agency that represents companies that write insurance policies in the state that requested an average 42.2 percent rate increase for homeowners’ insurance. Here is a detailed list by cities and counties of the requested increases. Commissioner Mike Causey rejected this proposal and a hearing is set for October 2024.

We are still collecting stories. So if you are comfortable sharing stories about how this would impact you, your community, your business etc – please fill out the following form.

Local Community Updates

  • Public and private entities are working together to address Asheville’s need for affordable homeownership and deeply affordable rental housing.
  • Affordable housing project of 69 units approved for New Leicester Highway Last week, the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment approved a proposed 69-unit community of which at least 75% of the units will be affordable. The affordable single family and attached single-family houses developed by Mountain Housing Opportunities will be sold to families earning less than 80% of the Area Median Income. The project received a $1M grant from Dogwood Health Trust and qualifying families will be able to apply for USDA rural first loan and receive interest-free secondary loans from MHO. 
  • West Haywood Street: 41 deeply-affordable apartments breaking ground in WECAN The Haywood Street Development Corporation is hosting a ribbon cutting tomorrow (Feb 21)  for a deeply affordable housing development. 37 of the 41 units will be reserved for Housing Choice Voucher participants and the remaining 4 units will be for families earning 80% AMI or below. The project uses both public and private financing, including allocations from the city of Asheville’s Affordable Housing Bond and Housing Trust Fund, funding from Buncombe County and Dogwood Health Trust, in addition to over $2.2M in charitable donations. Self-Help Credit Union will provide a loan from the remaining conventional debt. 
  • The number of unhoused people in Winston-Salem is growing. How are municipal leaders responding to the crisis? A presentation from a recent Winston-Salem Community Development, Housing, & General Government meeting indicates that Winston-Salem’s unofficial 2024 Point-in-Time count reports a year-over increase in homelessness. Since last year’s count, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness increased from 87 to 125. The number of people in emergency shelters also increased by 80 people. Over the past 5 years, indicators of solving homelessness have trended downward. The length of time people are unhoused has lengthened from 78 days to 103 days  and the percentage of people exiting CoC programs to permanent housing has decreased from 32% to 20%. City staff also introduced potential City-owned sites that could be used for the development of permanent supportive housing and affordable housing. 
  • Over 5,000 housing units approved by Greensboro | The City of Greensboro’s Planning Department recently released a graphic summary that shows how the city is assisting the creation of more housing through rezoning and annexation. 5,062 potential housing units were approved in 2023 through rezoning and the annexation process throughout the city. 92% of these approvals were for multi-family residential units. 
  • AmeriCorps volunteers build new home for Columbus County family affected by hurricanes | In Columbus County, a family whose mobile home was badly damaged by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence finally has a new place to call home. The Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh and 8 AmeriCorp volunteers from across the country recently converged in the small town of Cerro Gordo, NC to spend 3 weeks building a new home for the family. Catholic Charities of Raleigh Disaster Services Program serves the 54 easternmost counties of NC. 

Reports & Resources

Events

In the News

Recommended read

Housing Call: February 13, 2024

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