Housing Call: October 18, 2022

Guest Speaker

Shawn Heath, Director of Housing & Neighborhood Services, City of Charlotte

Federal & State Updates

• Things remain quiet in Washington while incumbents are busy at home campaigning for the midterm elections, which are 3 weeks from today.
• Cory Booker was in Charlotte over the weekend to campaign for former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley’s Senate race. The NC Senate race remains one of the tightest races in the nation, although recent polls have Republican congressman Ted Budd taking a slight lead.
• Last Thursday, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge recognized the Greenville, NC Housing Authority during a progress update on the Emergency Housing Voucher program.
  • EHV program was created through the American Rescue Plan Act and includes service fees that can be used to help high-barrier families obtain housing. Fudge’s update celebrates the lease-up of over half of all EHVs nationwide. HUD reports that in Greenville, 96% of all EHVs are being utilized. The Housing Authority is using service fees to fund landlord incentive and risk mitigation programs and to provide assistance with application fees and security deposit for EHV program participants.

NCHC Reminder

• County Profiles: As the end of the year quickly approaches, the policy team here at the NC Housing Coalition is working on updating our County Profiles, which provide a snapshot of housing needs for each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. https://airtable.com/shrwNyne7N2bPG0q1

They provide data on cost-burdened households paying at least 30% of their income on housing, a comparison on what different jobs pay, as well as changes in home prices, foreclosures, and rental options in our communities. The foundational goal of The County Profiles is to be used by advocates in their communities and with their local and state elected officials as an education tool around the housing issues that we all face in our cities and towns. In this week’s Housing Matters, you will see a link to a survey as well as links to several iterations of the County Profiles going back to 2013. We want to know how you use them, what the most important part of them is for you, and how we can improve the data and framing of information. The survey will remain open until Oct 27.

Local Updates

• Last Tuesday, Carrboro Town Council adopted the revised allocation plan for expenditure of ARP/CSLFRF funds. The plan allocates $1M towards the creation of affordable housing, $500K towards the emergency housing assistance program, and $500K towards home energy efficiency renovations.
• The City of Raleigh recently released its Annual Affordable Housing Report. Throughout FY 21-22, the City created or preserved 156 units. The report notes that challenges brought on by the pandemic have dampened production for the past 3 years and outlines plans for the City to boost supply over the next four years. In addition to their goal of 570 units produced or preserved annually, the City’s 2020 housing bond is expected to fund an additional 1,300 units over the next 4 years.
• 33 candidates running for Wake County Board of Commissioner, Raleigh Mayor, and Raleigh City Council recently shared their stances on affordable housing in a Habitat Wake affordable housing questionnaire. Candidates shared their opinions on displacement, rent prices, property taxes, racial equity and density.
• Greensboro will gain 84 additional units of affordable housing this week as the first residents begin to move into Red Hill Pointe Apartments. The tax credit property offers 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units with rents ranging from $283 – $785.

Resources

• Equity in the Distribution of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program | U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Evaluation Sciences
• Increasing the Supply of New Affordable Housing: Quick Guide to Using HUD’s Community Planning and Development Programs | HUD
• CDFI Fund Releases Summary Report and Public Data for NMTC Program for FYs 2003-2020 | CDFI Fund
• State of Homelessness: 2022 Edition | National Alliance to End Homelessness
  • https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-dashboards/?State=North%20Carolina
• From Silos to Collaborations: Building a Heath Partner Investment Strategy | Center for Community Investment & NeighborWorks
• Study finds renters are highly under-represented at all levels of government | NLIHC
• Neighborhoods Targeted by Community Reinvestment Act Receive Lower Quality Financial Services | Urban Institute (summary of journal article, “Color and credit: Race, regulation, and the quality of financial services”)
• NACo builds a data foundation for affordable housing | Public Administration Today

In the News

• Survey says affordable housing still top priority in Mecklenburg County | The Charlotte Weekly
• National Building Museum announces major new exhibition exploring how housing affordability innovations can become real world solutions | National Building Museum (press release)
• A plan for getting housing wealth to renters | Axios
• CDCs are having a moment. Can the momentum last? | Shelterforce
• Average total downpayment reached an all-time high in 2022 | CoreLogic
• It’s time to treat housing insecurity as a health risk | Wired
• [opinion] End the endless post-storm recovery | The Hill

• Housing affordability and ADUs | AARP (feat. Durham)

Events

• [in-person] 40th Annual National Conference | Enterprise Community Partners, 10/20, Washington, D.C..
• [virtual] The Fair Housing Act: Protections Against Housing Discrimination | Cabarrus County, City of Concord, & City of Kannapolis [w/ Legal Aid NC], 10/20, 1-2 pm (Spanish), 3-4 pm (English)
• [virtual] The Roots of the US Housing Data Ecosystem | Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 10/21 @1:15pm
• [in-person] State of the South: Reclaiming Southern History and Narrative | MDC, 10/28, 8:30-4 @ NCCU
  • The Ties that Bind: The history and policy of inequity
  • Equitable Economic Development: Investing in what works for communities
  • From Dreams to Action: Community responses to gentrification and displacement in Durham
• [virtual] Using the Capital for Communities Scorecard to Boost Social Impact and Equity | Urban Institute, 10/31, 12PM
• [virtual] Stacked Decks: Building Inspectors And The Reproduction of Urban Inequality, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 11/4 @ 12:15
• [hybrid] Next-Generation Innovations in Housing Affordability | Urban Institute, 11/15 @ 1pm
• [in-person] HFA Institute 2023 | NCSHA, January 8-13, Washington, D.C.