Housing Call: January 17, 2023 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

Policy Agenda 2023

Today we’re going to walk through an overview of our 2023 Policy Priorities with you. Our Policy Agenda this year consists of four agenda areas that were taken from our 2021 policy agenda, and prioritized by our policy committee. Our agenda also includes various prioritized strategies that our policy committee members and folks from across our network like you who participated in our various surveys throughout the process starting in late October 2022 and ending in December 2022. Our board of directors approved this agenda on December 9, and we have been continuing to develop ways we plan on rolling out and moving this work forward with you. Our policy agenda and key strategies for 2023 align with four key themes: Funding, Supply, Access, and Capacity. Our four prioritized policy areas for 2023 are as follows:

Priority Area 1

Advocate for reliable, dedicated, and coordinated public resources that meet the scale of the housing need.

Priority Area 2

Support housing policies and resources that keep families in their homes and allow communities to thrive.

Priority Area 3

Promote equitable access to housing and opportunity that reckons with our long history of racist housing policies and practices.

Priority Area 4

Ensure that local policies facilitate an adequate supply of quality housing accessible across a community’s income spectrum.

We know that various strategies fall into several of these priority areas, some of the main things we will be pursuing this year are as follows, for those of you familiar with our work you’ll hear some strategies that are in line with what we traditionally advocate for, and you’ll hear a few new strategies that we are excited to work on as well. In order to move these priority areas forward, NCHC plans to continue advocating for, mobilizing around, and engaging in education around several of the following strategies throughout the upcoming year. Here are a few of the prioritized strategies:

Advocate for increased and consistent support for the Housing Trust Fund and the Workforce Housing Loan Program (WHLP).
Support programs and policies that protect tenants and improve access to housing
Advocate for improved capacity.
Provide resources and education around policies that impact affordable housing access and development.

As we continue to roll out the details of other prioritized strategies, we will continue to share ways that you can engage with this work so that we can strengthen our housing movement with strong collaboration and collective action.

Federal Updates

North Carolina Republican congressman Patrick McHenry will serve as chair of the House Financial Services Committee. This committee oversees the Treasury, Federal Reserve, HUD, and government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) like Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.
HUD 2023 Income Limits will be Delayed by 6 Weeks. Calculation of the 2023 income limits typically include information collected in 2020 for the American Community Survey (ACS), but due to data collection challenges during the pandemic, the Census Bureau did not release a one-year ACS for 2020. As a result, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has stated it will use 2021 ACS data for 2023 income limits, a decision that will push the release of 2023 income limits back by six weeks from its customary April date to May 15. For more information, check out Novogradac’s blog post.

State & Local Updates

On Opening Day of the 2023-24 Legislative Session

Tim Moore elected to a record 5th term as speaker of the House, Senator Phil Berger elected to his seventh term as President Pro Tempore.

Charlotte Housing and Jobs Summit Recap
- The City of Charlotte hosted a 2-day housing and jobs summit last week. Leaders and stakeholders discussed strategies to address the preservation and production of affordable housing for the more than 55,000 residents without an affordable place to live.

Further underlying the need for affordable housing, last week Zillow ranked Charlotte the hottest housing market in the nation for 2023.
Davidson LIHTC development reaches end of period of affordability, up for sale
- The Bungalows, a LIHTC development in Davidson, has been sold by the primary investor who benefitted from the tax credits that have now expired. While deed restrictions maintain that the property must be affordable for at least another 10 years, the news owners can increase rent up to 50% of the Area Median Income. According to the Davidson Housing Coalition, rents have historically been closer to 30% AMI. The Chairperson for the DHC Board of Directors indicates that there was an unwritten agreement that the organization would assume ownership of the property, but a right of first refusal was never put in writing and the investor refused DHC’s offer. The new owner has not announced how much they intend to increase rent.

Historic Mill in Marion slated to become affordable housing for older adults
- Givens Communities, a nonprofit that develops market rate and affordable housing for older adults in Western NC, recently purchased a historic mill in McDowell County with plans to rehab the mill into affordable housing for older adults. The project is made possible by a $3M grant from Dogwood Health Trust. Construction is not set to begin for at least another year, but work is underway to have the site added to the National Register of Historic Places, which would enable the developers to leverage historic tax credits.

Nags Head removed multifamily housing from zoning code ahead of planned affordable housing development.
- Affordable housing developer Woda Cooper’s plans to build 54 units of affordable housing in Nags Head have been scrapped after the Nags Head Board of Commissioners voted earlier this month to eliminate multifamily housing from the permitted uses in the zoning code. In October, the Town enacted a 150-day moratorium on residential development within the zoning district of the slated project. Woda Cooper is one of two affordable housing developers working with Dare County commissioners to build more essential and workforce housing across the county.

Events

[virtual] January Book Talk with Author Nicholas Dawidoff – “The Other Side of Prospect: A Story of Violence, Injustice, and the American City” | NYU Furman Center and the Art for Justice Fund, 1/19 at 12 p.m.
[virtual] Appraisal Subcommittee hearing on appraisal bias | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1/24, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Register here.
Understanding Unsheltered Homelessness Public Presentation and Report of Findings | City of Asheville & Buncombe County, 1/25 from 1-4 p.m. @ Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville
- The National Alliance to End Homelessness conducted a needs assessment and provided recommendations to address unsheltered homelessness in the area.
[in-person] Affordable Housing Seminar: Tools, Strategies, and Case Studies for Local Government Leadership | UNC School of Government, February 28 @ the New Bern Convention Center
[in-person] NC Rural Summit | NC Rural Center, 3/20-21 @ the Raleigh Convention Center
[in-person] Housing Policy Forum 2023 | NLIHC, 3/21-23, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Registration is now open.
- Matthew Desmond (author of Evicted) and Dr. William Barber II