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Recent Trends in Real Estate Development: Fall 2023

October 30, 2023

This blog post is the first in a regular series aimed at informing local government partners about current conditions facing private developers and development projects in their communities. Lending for real estate development projects: interest rates & tighter lending standards In 2022, the Fed … Read more

County Legal Authority to Fund Non-Mandated Social Services Programs

October 12, 2023

State law requires North Carolina counties to administer and provide a number of social services and public assistance programs described in Chapter 108A of the North Carolina General Statutes, including (among others) Work First, Food and Nutrition Services, Medicaid, child protective services, ado … Read more

Local Conduit Issuances of Affordable Housing Bonds in North Carolina: The Basics

September 25, 2023

North Carolina suffers from a lack of affordable housing options for low and moderate income households.  And as my colleague Tyler Mulligan has noted, the public sector cannot be expected to solve this problem without private sector capital and expertise. In a May 2022 post, Tyler outlined many of … Read more

How to Keep the Local Grocery Store Open: A Challenge for NC CED Professionals

July 18, 2023

Almost 15 years ago, a brief CED blog post highlighted several resources for supporting or attracting local grocery stores, especially ones in rural areas.  Much more recently, a CED post highlighted the various ways CED professionals interact with food systems overall. This post brings North Caroli … Read more

What’s Going On with ARP Infrastructure Investment in North Carolina?

April 18, 2023

A significant benefit of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) for North Carolina CED professionals is the availability of funding for investment in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure though the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRS). Where and how is that local govern … Read more

CED through Local and Regional Food Systems: The Latest Resources

January 17, 2023

In the past year, activity around local food systems increased dramatically. Government has been involved in supporting food systems for decades, but primarily through programs adopted at the federal level to both promote food production and protect the health of consumers. But having government wor … Read more

CED and Affordable Housing: How Does Manufactured Housing Fit In?

October 18, 2022

This headline from last week would naturally grab the attention of any CED professional: “Affordable mobile homes are disappearing in Asheville; code change could bring some back.” Housing is a basic issue for anyone interested in CED. Behind the headline are a host of issues that both foster hope i … Read more

Options for Expanding Property Tax Relief for Lower Income Homeowners

May 17, 2022

Uniformity is a defining characteristic of our state’s property tax system. As I’ve written before, both our state constitution and the Machinery Act (the collection of state statutes that govern property taxes) require that all local governments across North Carolina play by the same property tax r … Read more

Local Government Support for Privately Owned Affordable Housing

May 16, 2022

By most accounts, the need for affordable housing across North Carolina is massive. According to 2019 census data, over a million North Carolina households are “cost burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Almost half of those are “severely cost burdened,” meaning the … Read more

How to Define a Retail Trade Area and an Office and Multifamily Market Area in a Small Town

November 8, 2021

The School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative (DFI) was founded in part to provide specialized assistance to help small towns in North Carolina attract private investment and spur revitalization efforts. A key part of DFI’s process is to evaluate the type and scale of development that th … Read more