I love sharing news about something good. Especially when it touches on something REBIC is working so hard to promote and move forward.
Following years and years of audible cries from the community about the growing lack of affordable housing, or “housing that is affordable,” the City of Charlotte is in the process of applying for $10 million Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) aptly entitled “Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO HOUSING)”. Specifically, the City “is proposing a streamlined information and process center to ensure that information, resources, and incentives are available to anyone, and everyone interested in creating affordable housing in the Charlotte region.” Furthermore, the “goal of these streamlined programs and services is to make building affordable housing more accessible, so more units will be available across the entire city, especially in areas of opportunity.”
Although these are broad statements, it is very promising! Specifics, I believe, can and should be refined and articulated by our industry. Several of the proposed activities that would be covered by the grant are similar in spirit to the recommendations that we as an organization and an industry have been offering for some time.
As far as timing, the grant application will be submitted by the City of Charlotte on October 30, 2023. The Planning Department team is seeking letters of support between now and Friday, October 27th. Please consider lending your voice to this effort. And at the end of this article there is a link for YOU to provide feedback. Please do so! For more information and links with additional information, be sure and read all the way to the bottom of this article.
Now, let me share with you the overview offered to us. The following is content taken directly from the announcement and then my commentary after each item:
Development Center Team: a “concierge” or navigation service to streamline information and services for all those interested in creating affordable housing. This team will help interested parties navigate services and programs available to them.
My Thoughts: The description seems a little hazy, so let’s put a finer point on it. If this is used to effectively establish a sub-department or a specialized team whose sole purpose is to fast-track the types of developments that achieve the goal of producing more attainable housing, let’s get it up and running yesterday.
Cost of regulation study: a study to better understand overall cost and constraints of regulations and to identify sources of barriers.
My Thoughts: If executed correctly by intentionally limiting measures that are designed to result in a preconceived and biased outcome, this could be an effective tool in assessing the City and the region’s regulatory framework and its effect on housing costs. It could also be used to compare and contrast our region with other parts of the country.
Managing service for set aside units: A third-party service to manage set aside units, accessory dwelling units, and other affordable units for those interested in creating these types of affordable housing but do not have the capacity to manage it themselves.
My Thoughts: I like the fact that this encourages the development and use of accessory dwelling units or ADU’s and acknowledges that being able to implement this on a large scale could be due to the lack of property owners have the ability or time to manage the ensuing process which this could mitigate. Perhaps an efficient and cost-effective way of doing this would be to contract with private property management companies that already operate in this sphere of expertise.
Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resell revolving fund: initial funding to purchase, rehabilitate, and then resell homes at an affordable rate. Funding received from the sale of the home will be repurposed into this fund.
My Thoughts: This fund could be helpful for those seeking to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing or NOAH, and a good vehicle for those seeking to land on the first rung of the property ownership ladder.
“Missing Middle” program: to establish a program to make it easier to build “missing middle” housing, such as duplexes, triplexes, etc. This would include a pool of resources such as designers, contractors, etc. who can help build these types of units.
My Thoughts: Again, this could be a useful tool so long as it is not weighed down by the sheer force of government. I don’t say this to criticize the City of Charlotte, in fact, I’m thrilled Alyson Craig and the Planning Department are proactively seeking this grant. However, let’s take it a step further and make sure we are asking not only WHO it is we’re trying to help but WHAT the data tells us about their present income and where we should start earmarking assistance. Given that, DreamKey Partners, through its House Charlotte down payment assistance program, aims for those with household incomes of up to 110% of area median income (AMI) for their aid. I believe that is the figure we should be using to define what constitutes the buyers that make up the “missing middle.”
Incentive study: a study to measure the impact of existing incentives to be able to maximize the number of set-aside affordable units, especially in areas of high opportunity.
My Thoughts: Tim Sittema with Crosland Southeast, a professional in our industry with a great deal of wisdom and experience once told me it is the Charlotte’s new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) is where generous incentives for builders to pursue affordable housing should be written. An inclusion he believes would result in every developer scrambling to utilize them. Another way to improve this study’s effectiveness would be to bring a group of practitioners together and ask them what works and doesn’t work in the real world and then build the bonus program around those facts. Paraphrasing Tim, I quote, “We have a once in a generation opportunity to address the issue of housing affordability. Let’s be bold!”
In closing, I would encourage you to immerse yourself in the narratives and intentions published by HUD. Explore these additional links:
IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL LINKS
PRO HOUSING grant information: Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The City of Charlotte’s draft application: 18051c90-3bb1-437a-bbd0-e281e326b2ac (publicinput.com)
To provide feedback on the City’s application: PRO Housing – PublicInput
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