Category: Neighborhood & Affordable Housing
Making the Case for Affordable Housing: Using BLS Statistics to ask Hard Questions About Salaries vs. Local Housing Costs
Last year, nursing assistants in Goldsboro earned $11.83 an hour (median wage) for a mean annual salary of $24,610. Is this a sufficient wage to sustain a person who wants to live and work there? Affordable housing for different demographic groups in North Carolina communities has been discussed in … Read more
May a City Mow an Overgrown Lot without a Court Order?
The Town of Manicure has been working hard to revitalize the historic neighborhood adjacent to downtown. As part of the effort to improve conditions in this and other neighborhoods, the town has been more vigilant in enforcing its overgrown lot ordinance, which prohibits property owners from allowin … Read more
Periodic Inspections, Permits, and Registration of Residential Rental Property: Changes in 2017
Update: The statutes referenced in this post were moved to G.S. Chapter 160D in 2021. See the Chapter 160D resource page and the cross-over chart to identify new statute numbers. Local governments establish residential rental property inspection, permit, and registration (IPR) programs to ensure tha … Read more
Student Corner: What’s Old is New Again: Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
The granny cottage, in-law suite, or guest apartment, among its various names, might seem like a quaint relic of the past. But proponents are touting the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) as the new frontier of housing development in an era of rising demand for diverse housing stock. Ranging in size, b … Read more
Student Corner: Does affordable housing negatively impact nearby property values?
Despite public perceptions of affordable housing negatively impacting nearby property values, there is evidence to suggest that the impact is minimal if at all. Trulia, an online residential real estate site, recently conducted a study indicating that low-income housing tax credit (read more on LIHT … Read more
Student Corner: Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas
The Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) designation was established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1995. The intent of the program is to address economic development and housing needs within economically disadvantaged communities. To achieve NRSA status … Read more
Student Corner: Interim Evaluation of HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)
RAD, or the Rental Assistance Demonstration program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), may not be as radical in its approach to preserving low-income housing as its acronym suggests, but an interim evaluation of the pilot program indicates it shows promise. T … Read more
Student Corner: Library Living? Integrating a library into a mixed-use development
Would you ever want to live and shop on top of or next to your library that is part of a mixed-use development? Cities looking to catalyze on a library’s energy and flow of people could consider the development of a library as a component in a mixed-use project, which is development that integrates … Read more
Evictions: A vicious cycle for people in poverty
Matthew Desmond has authored a scrupulously researched, stimulating and compelling book that should be of interest to everyone in the apartment industry, every low-income housing advocate, any student of American neighborhoods and every public official. Examinations of urban poverty are nothing new, … Read more
Student Corner: Hope through Housing: A Model for Addressing Pressing Community Challenges
In the Town of Carol-Blue, Donny, a local community developer, finds himself in a really tough position. Both the county and city budgets are constrained and the challenges the town face economically seem only to grow in size. After performing an analysis of senior housing demand, he realizes that t … Read more