Housing Call: February 21, 2023 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Updates

Bringing It Home 2023 conference registration opens Monday, February 27.
On next week’s Housing Call, NCHFA Policy Analyst Annie Baumann-Mitchell will be speaking on the Housing Call next Tuesday about the SHARP program.

Federal Updates

Last week, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen spoke at the National Association of Counties 2023 Legislative Conference, where she urged counties to focus ARPA funding on workforce development and affordable housing. Sec. Yellen spoke about Treasury’s decision in August 2022 to allow State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to be used for long-term LIHTC loans, and highlighted a 278-unit affordable housing development in New Hanover County as an example of a project that benefited from this decision.
Last week, the National Park Service cleared DC’s largest homeless encampment in McPherson Square. An article over the weekend in the Washington Post indicates that two-thirds of those forced to leave McPherson Square remain unsheltered. President Biden and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser are being criticized in light of the Biden administration defying their own recommendations from the recently released Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness.
On Friday, HUD announced over $38M in funding for the Health Homes Production Grant Program. Wilmington is one of 23 municipalities and organizations nationwide that received funding. HUD awarded Wilmington a $1.5M grant, which the city will leverage with a 25% match, to complete 100 Healthy Home assessments and 65 Healthy Home interventions. Funding will also provide Healthy Homes related training to 50 contractors and low-income job seekers and facilitate 15 Healthy Homes trainings.
On Friday, HUD also announced over $3B in capital investments for public housing authorities across the country. HUD’s Capital Fund Program provides funding each year to public housing authorities to build, renovate, and modernize the public housing in their communities. NC PHAs received a combined $82M. The largest awards across the state went to the following PHAs:
- Goldsboro Housing Authority $4.8 M
- Durham Housing Authority $4.1M
- Winston-Salem Housing Authority $4.0M
- Raleigh Housing Authority $3.6M
- High Point Housing Authority $3.6M

State Updates

Bills
- Filed 1/30 House Bill 37: Expands disabled veteran circuit breaker with hold harmless for municipalities
- Filed 2/1 Senate Bill 53
- Filed 2/9 Senate Bill 92: Expands circuit breaker to everyone who meets income eligibility regardless of age or disability. Doesn’t address local revenues
- Filed 2/13 House Bill 105 Elderly Prop. Tax Appreciation Exclusion: Looks at increased appreciation exclusion, includes a deferral; has 4 House Republican sponsors
- Filed 2/14 House Bill 114: Limits corporate landlords to 100 single family rental homes in an urban county; not likely to pass
Former Greensboro City Councilmember and Republican Jim Kee announced his 2024 bid for NC Lieutenant Governor last week. Current Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is anticipated to run for Governor in 2024.

Local Updates

First Baptist Church of Asheville and YMCA of Western NC are partnering on plans to build affordable housing, a new YMCA building, and greenspace on a combined 10 acres of land. If the project is approved by City Council, construction could begin in late 2024.
At a recent Durham City Council meeting, Deputy City Manager Bertha Johnson presented to City Council plans to use ARPA funds to help finance 4 affordable housing developments. The suggested allocation would provide:
The Dearborn Family development: $6.5 million
East Geer St. Residential: $5 million
Sandy Ridge Villas: $4 million
902 South Briggs Avenue: $5.4 million

Council members seemed to be in unanimous support of the proposed use of funds but will need to formally approve the projects at an upcoming council meeting.

The historically black Walltown community continues to advocate for the creation of affordable housing at the site of the former Northgate Mall. At a recent meeting, Walltown Community Association members advocated for the creation of 11 acres of affordable housing on the site to offset rising housing costs in the neighborhood. The developer, Northwood Investors, has scrapped early concept plans to include a small affordable housing component to the development and, as of now, plans to build laboratory and retail space and a small park.
Washington City Council voted to rezone over 7 acres to residential multifamily for tax credit developer Mills Construction to build 60 workforce housing apartments. In Beaufort County, Census data shows that over half of renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
In Carteret County, developers broke ground on a 48-unit tax credit development in Beaufort. This is in addition to 300 units of affordable housing that the town approved In October through a public-private partnership with the Beaufort Housing Authority and WinnCompanies.

Events

[virtual] CRA Basics | National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 2/23, 1-2 p.m.
[virtual] Rental Markets a Year After Our America’s Rental Housing Report | Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2/24, 12:15 p.m.
[virtual] Prison Research Meets Practice: A Conversation on Restrictive Housing | Urban Institute, 2/28, 2 p.m.
[virtual] Housing Finance & Social Equity: Addressing Race and Racism in Mortgage Lending | Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2/28, 11 a.m.
[in-person] Affordable Housing Seminar: Tools, Strategies, and Case Studies for Local Government Leadership | UNC School of Government, 2/28 @ the New Bern Convention Center
[in-person] NC Rural Summit | NC Rural Center, 3/20-21 @ the Raleigh Convention Center
- “Housing First: Affordability, Accessibility & Policy Solutions” breakout session

[in-person] Housing Policy Forum 2023 | NLIHC, 3/21-3/23 in Washington, D.C.
- Features discussions with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Matthew Desmond, and NC’s own Rev. Dr. William Barber II.