Interview: Lesley Albritton with Legal Aid NC
This week, Director of Housing Policy Stephanie Watkins-Cruz spoke with Lesley Albritton, Chief Operations Officer of Legal Aid North Carolina, about how the new state budget will impact legal aid services across the state. Listen to the full interview above.
Lesley Wiseman Albritton is the Chief Operations Officer of Legal Aid of North Carolina. She also leads the firm’s legislative affairs. Before joining LANC, Ms. Albritton served as a judicial clerk for Ohio’s Third Appellate District and spent several years in private practice. She began her career at LANC as a staff attorney and a supervising attorney in the Greenville office, where she represented domestic violence survivors and subsidized housing clients. She went on to found the firm’s statewide Disaster Relief Project, leading the firm’s response to Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Florence, and Tropical Storm Fred. Ms. Albritton has served as an officer in many professional organizations and as a director for several nonprofit boards, including the NC Housing Coalition on which she currently serves. She is a contributing author to the American Bar Association’s book, Meeting the Legal Needs of Disaster Survivors and co-author of the article, Disasters Do Discriminate: Black Land Tenure and Disaster Relief Programs, which was published in the ABA Journal on Affordable Housing. She received her law degree from Ohio Northern University, where she graduated with High Distinction. She was named a 2019 Leader in the Law by North Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly, a 2024 recipient of the 50 Most Influential Women Award presented by North Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly and the Charlotte Business Journal, a 2025 and 2026 Legal Elite in Family Law, and the 2026 recipient of the Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney award.
Resources
Statement from LANC on IOLTA Funding | Legal Aid of North Carolina
See page 436 for budget language on new IOLTA eligibility requirements: SENATE BILL 257 Appropriations/Base Budget Committee Substitute Adopted
Organizational Updates
Survey Open: Participate in Our 2027-2028 Policy Agenda Development
In preparation for next year’s long state legislative session, the NC Housing Coalition is developing our 2027-2028 Policy Agenda, and we need your input. Every two years, we consult our membership across the housing ecosystem–from homelessness services to affordable housing development–in order to build a robust, high-impact policy agenda that addresses housing Supply, Subsidy, Stability, and Systems in North Carolina. This policy agenda will guide our state legislative advocacy for the next two years, which is why it is critical to get your perspective and expertise. Share your input for our 2027-2028 Policy Agenda by July 12, and be on the lookout for more updates as we develop our legislative priorities with you.
Federal Updates
Court Vacates Unlawful Funding Criteria for Solutions to Homelessness in Case Brought by Broad Coalition | Democracy Forward
‘Hypocrisy’: Congress wants more homes. HUD is closing its low-income housing pipeline. | POLITICO
Feds encourage public housing authorities to impose work rules, time limits | Stateline
State Updates
Legislative Updates
Click here to see our updated bill tracker.
NCGA Passes 2026-2027 Budget
Over 1,000 days since we’ve had a comprehensive budget, and over 366 days since the deadline last year, the lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) passed the budget for FY2026-2027 on Thursday, July 2. The House and Senate will now adjourn until July 27, 2026. Budget highlights include: $10M non-recurring for the Housing Trust Fund, $25M non-recurring for the Workforce Housing Loan Program (WHLP), $14.2M net appropriation for Transitions to Community Living (TCLI), and $9M net appropriation for Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP). Other appropriations related to Helene Recovery include $35M in grants for Volunteer Organizations against Disasters (VOADs) for housing repair and reconstruction, $2.6M in grants for long term recovery groups (LTRGs), and $40M for the Temporary Relocation Assistance Program for homeowners waiting on ReNew NC repairs or rebuilds. We’ll have more budget analysis to share later this week.
Bill Criminalizing Homelessness Heads to Gov. Stein’s Desk
Last Tuesday, the House approved the Senate’s changes to HB437: Drug-Free Zones/Unauthorized Public Camping in a concurrence vote of 73-40. The bill criminalizes homelessness and adds more legal and financial pressures to the local communities and governments trying to serve vulnerable populations. If Governor Stein vetoes the bill, it will return to the General Assembly where both the House and Senate must each override the veto with a three-fifths supermajority. Thank you to the almost 300 individuals and organizations who signed onto the letter we circulated opposing this dangerous bill. We are still collecting signatures here as we hope for a veto from Governor Stein. Once this occurs we will update advocates both state and nationwide about next steps.
Governor Signs Parking Lot Reform Bill, NC Housing Coalition Speaks at Signing
On Monday, July 7, Gov. Stein signed HB162: Parking Lot Reform/Stormwater Control into law. The law prohibits local governments from requiring a minimum number of off-street parking spaces and amend the current restriction on the regulation of parking space dimensions to apply to off-street parking spaces. Director of Housing Policy Stephanie Watkins-Cruz had the distinct honor of being invited to speak at the bill signing ceremony yesterday about this significant policy reform that brings down development costs and encourages increased housing supply.
Bill Adjusting Counties Subject to Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium Fails to Provide a True Carve Out to Buncombe County
Last Thursday, the conference committee substitute for SB474: Adjust Counties/Reappraisal Moratorium. passed its third reading in both the House (74-40) and Senate (40-7) and was sent to the Governor. This legislation makes adjustments to the counties that are subject to the property tax reappraisal moratorium enacted in SB889. Notably, it does not provide the carve out Buncombe County had hoped for to help the county recover from Hurricane Helene. If the County wants to qualify for exemption under the moratorium to use the updated 2026 property tax values, they must adopt a revenue neutral tax rate that would result in an estimated $24.8 million (5%) reduction to the County’s budget.
Powerful NC House lawmaker advances bill to end property tax break for future solar projects | NC Newsline
More North Carolinians Now Eligible for Affordable Mortgages and $15K Down Payment Assistance | NC Housing Finance Agency
Disaster Recovery Housing Updates
Budd opposes Trump’s latest funding request due to lack of Helene relief | NC Newsline
FEMA awards North Carolina $197M more for Helene recovery and mitigation projects | WLOS
Local Headlines
NWRHA ribbon cutting marks milestone for affordable housing in Avery County, more planned | averyjournal.com
Keeping Gentrification at Bay Through Cooperative Ownership of Mobile Home Parks | Next City
Affordable homes to be built in Hendersonville with USDA-backed loans | WLOS
CF Habitat advances largest development to date with $950K from Endowment | Port City Daily
Reports, Events, and Resources
RURAL RESEARCH BRIEF: USDA’s Section 515 Multifamily Housing Portfolio Continues to Shrink | Housing Assistance Council
Existing USDA Section 515 properties continually leave the portfolio and few, if any, are being replaced. HAC’s analysis estimates that between June 2021 and March 2026, 621 Section 515 properties containing 14,928 affordable apartments left the Section 515 portfolio.
Housing Affordability Toolkit | National Multifamily Housing Council & NYU Urban Lab
Drawing on original data analysis and a comprehensive scan of housing policy research, the report charts a three-part path to affordability through local deregulation, preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing and targeted public subsidy. It also introduces a new metric, Time to Address (TTA), to measure how quickly different policies can move the needle.
Newly Released HUD LIHTC Tenant Data Continues to Show Majority of Residents Earn 30% of AMI or Less | Novogradac
[webinar] Can Pre-Approved Plans Speed Up Housing Production? July 9 12-12:45 p.m, Housing Solutions Lab & NYU Furman Center. Learn more and register here.
Charlotte Planners’ Meetup | NC Chapter of the American Planning Association, Thursday, July 9 from 6-8 p.m. at Hopfly Brewing in Southend. Open to all planners and related fields.
