While the response to Hurricane Helene continues, local governments are looking ahead to the long road to recovery. In a report issued by the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), Hurricane Helene Recovery Recommendations: Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment, OSBM notes th … Read more

Hurricane Helene caused historic flooding in Western North Carolina, destroying or damaging approximately 126,000 residential properties. Many of those properties were occupied by tenants who now find themselves in unfit or uninhabitable properties. The owners of affected rental properties face the … Read more

The challenges facing real estate development today are well-known. Construction costs remain 40% higher than pre-COVID levels and increased interest rates have slowed the pace of new projects. A June 2024 survey of the nation’s largest developers found that two-thirds of multifamily projects in the … Read more

It is not uncommon for charitable housing organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, to request land from local governments with the intent of developing housing on the property and then selling it to low- and moderate-income homebuyers. Unfortunately, North Carolina local governments sometimes co … Read more

We are awash in data on CED issues from annexation to zoning. What NC CED professionals need, however, is valid data based in reliable research, appropriate for their current questions, and relevant and applicable to North Carolina. This post outlines how NC CED practitioners can access this kind of … Read more

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

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

Housing costs and supply are dominating the news at the moment.  Housing is the highest monthly bill typical Americans face, reaching an average of $1674 a month in 2021. Housing prices have increased far faster than incomes (Miller 2015), making affordable homeownership inaccessible for many aspiri … Read more

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

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