NCLM.ORG 11 developer, Bradly Housing Developers, is constructing the project on the site of an old drive-in movie theater, which is accessible to nearby shopping and transit routes. Families who make 60% of the area median income (AMI) will be eligible. The project is similar to those taking place in Morehead City and Greenville, which also suffered middle-housing losses due to the storms. HOUSING BONDS: CITIES INVEST IN HOUSING The housing affordability crisis may have become more widespread over the last few years, with smaller communities and those with tourism-based economies now seeing the need for more workforce housing and middle-income housing. Still, it isn’t new, especially in our larger cities. That is why North Carolina’s largest cities and their residents have approved housing bonds— typically by overwhelming majorities—for several years now. Some of the more recent approved bond issues to address housing affordability include, in 2022, $50 million in Charlotte, $30 million in Greensboro, $12 million in Fayetteville, and $40 million in Buncombe County and Asheville; in 2020, $80 million in Charlotte; and in 2018, $95 million in Durham. It is important to understand that these bonds are typically approved in the context of larger housing plans adopted by the cities that are intended improve housing opportunities across lower and middle incomes. Besides direct construction of low-income housing, typically aimed to help those making 30% or less of the local average median income, assistance also can targets middle-income residents with funding for down payments and other assistance. Land banking and other measures are often a part of the housing plans, seeking to leverage private investment than can help a range of residents and the larger economy. In total, these local taxpayer investments have created thousands of additional residential housing units that would not otherwise exist. Legislative Update
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