Housing Call: November 15, 2022 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Updates

No housing call next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Election Updates

Federal

Democrats will maintain control of the Senate. Republicans are favored to maintain control of the House, with a handful of races still uncalled.
Across the nation, residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of a number of ballot measures. A report released Friday by Moody’s Analytics underlied the bipartisan support of housing measures across the county.
Novogradac and Affordable Housing Finance both offer detailed analyses of the election results and what they mean for affordable housing.

State

Republicans gained a supermajority in the State Senate and seem to be only one vote shy of a supermajority in the State House. Practically, this means the Republican controlled NCGA will be only one vote shy in one chamber to override a Democratic Governor’s veto;
Republicans take control of the NC Supreme Court; and
Ted Budd wins North Carolina’s US Senate seat over Cheri Beasley.
Also of note, Ricky Hurtado, the lone Latinx member of the NCGA, was defeated by Steve Ross.

Local

There are some local housing results to celebrate:

The City of Charlotte passed a $50m affordable housing bond with 74% of the vote;
The City of Fayetteville passed a $12m housing opportunity bond with 59% of the vote; and
Buncombe County passed a $40m housing bond with 62% of the vote.

This continues North Carolina cities and counties’ trend of approving every housing bond that is set before them. Congratulations to those of you who worked on these campaigns.

Federal Updates

The House and Senate reconvene today. Between now and the end of the year, Congress will be focused on keeping the government funded after the continuing resolution expires December 16. The main points of focus during this lame duck session will be the national debt, aid to Ukraine, Recession relief, and Medicare cuts.
Legislation to increase affordable housing production could possibly be passed through an FY2023 Omnibus spending bill. Congress may opt to pass another continuing resolution instead and revisit the final budget after the New Year, given the likely change in party leadership in the House.

Local Community Updates

Charlotte is one of 10 cities that has been chosen for an electric vehicle car-sharing pilot. The US Dept. of Energy is expected to roll out the Affordable Mobility Platform pilot program next July and provide 10 EVs available to residents and staff in 5 of Charlotte’s affordable housing communities. A focus will be made on selecting dense communities that aren’t well served by public transportation.
Today is the last day that RAMP CLT will be accepting applications for rent and utility assistance. Applications will be accepted only for individuals with an official eviction and assigned court date, earning 60% AMI or below with a COVID-19 hardship, and living in Mecklenburg County including the City of Charlotte.
Durham city council approved $22m in bond financing for the proposed Cedar Trace Apartments community at Carr Rd. near I-885. Developers plan to build 180 affordable units. The project is the recipient of a 2022 4% LIHTC bond award.
Greenville city council recently approved a plan to address homelessness and increase the supply of rental housing. $2m in ARPA Home Investment Partnership grant funds will be used to acquire/develop non-congregate shelters, develop affordable rental housing, and provide tenant based rental assistance.
RebuildNC awarded Greenville, Morehead City, and Wilmington with a combined $22.3m from the Affordable Housing Development Fund. This particular fund is supported by HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery funding for Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. This is the second of three rounds of funds awarded. This round focused on providing gap financing for shovel-ready 4% LIHTC projects located in areas outside of the 100-year floodplain, but within counties designated as impacted and distressed by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. A third round of funding for other types of housing projects is expected in 2023.