Please Note: There was no Housing Call this week. Our next Housing Call will be Tuesday, March 17 at 9:45am.
Organizational Updates
We released our 2026 County Profiles!
If you want to see county profiles from this year click here.
If you want to see profiles from the past several years, here is a gallery that you can use to view and download past profiles.
Register Today for NC Housing Day 2026!
NC Housing Day is hosted by Habitat for Humanity NC, the NC Housing Coalition, the NC Community Land Trust Coalition, and the NC Coalition to End Homelessness. On Tuesday, April 28, we will gather for training and networking, and on Wednesday, April 29, we will gather at Halifax Mall and meet with legislators at the General Assembly. Registration for NC Housing Day is open today through – April 3, 2026
Register Now: Bringing It Home 2026
Register Now for this year’s Bringing It Home: Ending Homelessness in NC conference on May 27-28, 2026 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh! Homelessness services professionals and allies will gather 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 presentations, panels, and workshops covering a broad range of topics related to homelessness. The conference is hosted by the NC Housing Coalition, NC Coalition to End Homelessness, and the NC DHHS ESG Office.
Register now, or check out our Bringing It Home 2026 Conference Page for more information. Contact skirby@nchousing.org with any questions.
Federal Updates
Updated: Senate Passes 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
Today, the Senate passed the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” by a vote of 89-10. If the bill becomes law, it will be the largest Federal housing supply act in decades. Provisions include disaster recovery reform, rural housing services reform, and streamlining for Housing Choice Vouchers. The bill will now go to the House, where Republicans are divided on the legislation despite support from President Trump. Read more about the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act here (with link to overview). Learn more about the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act here.
Last week, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a bipartisan bill that combines the House’s “Housing in the 21st Century Act” and the Senate’s previous “ROAD to Housing Act.” The bill includes a number of priorities that our partners at the National Low Income Housing Coalition have championed, including disaster recovery, rural housing, and land use reform. It also includes a provision barring corporations from purchasing single family homes. It does not, however, include homelessness program reform. The Senate passed a version of the bill last Monday and will conference with the House once it passes its version. This is extremely promising. The combined version contains several meaningful proposed policies and reforms.
- It contains 36 of the 40 provisions in the Senate’s version of the bill as well as a provision that limits institutional investors from providing single-family homes.
- 6 new provisions that were not included.
- Permanent authorization of CDBG-DR is included in this version
For a section by section analysis click here.
2026 GAP Report Released
Last week the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released the 2026 GAP Report which shows the affordable and available rental homes available by state for the lowest-income renters in our communities. The nationwide report found that NO STATE has an adequate supply of affordable rental housing for the lowest-income renters (again) this year.
In the report, North Carolina’s data shows that of the approximately 350,000 extremely low income renter households there is less than 134,000 affordable and available to them. For more highlights, see our post here.
Things we are keep an eye on:
- AFFORD ACT was introduced recently as part of bipartisan efforts to strengthen CDFI Fund and Native CDFIS.
- The American Homeownership Act was introduced to “Rein in Corporate Landlords and Help People Achieve homeownership”. See factsheet here.
State Updates
Legislative Updates
Governor Josh Stein releases a Critical Needs Budget for the state of North Carolina
On Monday, Governor Josh Stein released what he is calling a “Critical Needs Budget”, a budget that will address the state’s most urgent priorities while the NC General Assembly works on a full spending plan. In his letter to leadership and members of the NCGA he mentions that “Much has changed since 2023 – the last time the state passed a full Appropriations Act. Persistent inflation has driven up the cost of almost everything, from raw materials to contracted services. The state has added 326,000 new residents since the 2023 budget was passed, and the federal funding landscape has dramatically shifted for the worse.” The proposal does not include any direct key housing appropriations or policy provisions at this time. The funding included in this critical needs budget falls into the following areas:
- Funding the Medicaid Rebase to prevent cuts to services or provider payments
- Increasing salaries for public safety and law enforcement employees, and providing raises to teachers, instructions support staff and state employees.
- Stabilizing operations and funding critical operations where lack of budgeted funds threatens safety and/or access to services.
- Restoring scholarships for children of wartime veterans.
One major highlight of this proposed budget is the provision included that proposes to unfreeze IOLTA Funding to Restore Civil Legal Aid Statewide by amending SL2025-70 sec.25 to reinstate the State Bar’s authority to collect and disburse IOLTA earnings. Another is the provision that proposes to bring the child care subsidy rate to the 75th percentile of the 2023 market rate study for the last quarter of FY2025-26.
Upcoming Legislative Committee Meetings
The House & Senate will convene this week, no votes are expected, but there will be several key meetings held this week:
To view the legislative calendar and the links to each committee’s respective materials and details, click here.
March 10, 2026
9:00am – Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health & Human Services
1:00pm – Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid
Wednesday – March 11
1:00pm – House Select Committee on Government Efficiency
1:00pm – Joint Legislative Administrative Oversight Committee
Thursday – March 12
10:00am – Joint Legislative Emergency Management Oversight Committee
NEXT WEEK
House Select Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety
Wednesday, March 18, 9:30am
House Select Committee on Property Tax Reduction and Reform
Wednesday, March 18, 10am
April 2026
Governmental Operations, Subcommittee on Hurricane Response & Recovery will be meeting on April 2, 2026 – at 10:00am.
Disaster Recovery
WNC Local Governments Express Concerns Over Loan Reimbursement
Last week GROW NC held a meeting that included several updates that ranged from the timeline for Blue Ridge Parkway recovery, to bridge loan program concerns. Many local governments seem to be concerned with using loans for rebuilding infrastructure lest they not receive reimbursement or have loans forgiven. This is another example of how volatility at the federal level continues to weigh on the already cumbersome and complicated recovery process in WNC.
NC Housing Coalition, NCIDR Request Twelve-Month Extension of Temporary Housing Assistance
The NC Housing Coalition, participating as members of the NC Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network (NCIDR), contacted key staffers of NC’s Congressional delegation last week to request that temporary housing assistance for North Carolinians be extended to twelve months. The extension would be a lifeline for affected households still dependent on temporary housing assistance. However, it’s important to know that even if the extension is granted, there is no guarantee that property owners or businesses (like hotels) will accept temporary housing assistance payments from FEMA.
Local Headlines
U.S. HUD secretary returns to Asheville to assess long-term Helene recovery needs | WLOS
Durham, North Carolina Housing Bond Has Created 1,668 New Rental Homes | Planetizen
Raleigh City Council considers bond to address affordable housing | ABC 11
Winston-Salem set for third wave of affordable housing projects on city-owned land | Greensboro News and Record
Charlotte symposium tackling ongoing housing affordability issues impacting families statewide | Spectrum News 1
FEMA works to remove temporary housing from western NC after Helene | WSOC-TV
Reports, Resources, & Events
2026 The GAP Report | National Low Income Housing Coalition| Full Report| NC Profile
Housing Mobility Fell to Record Low in 2024 | Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University|
[webinar] Innovations Designed to Deliver the Promise of Homeownership | Urban Institute, Monday, March 16, 1-5 p.m. Learn more and register here.
UNC School of Government Community Development Academy | March 17-19 and April 14-16, 2026 in Chapel Hill, Course Cost: $935
This intensive course is designed for community development practitioners and covers the concepts, methods, and strategies of community economic development. It provides practitioners with perspectives and practical skills surrounding community development in North Carolina.
2026 Rural Summit | March 26-27 at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley – registration closes this week!
Just Economy Conference 2026 | National Community Reinvestment Coalition, April 14-15, 2026 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Learn more and register here.
