Get Involved

Carolina Across 100 seeks applications for the Our State, Our Homes program from communities that are interested in working across sectors to improve access to and availability of affordable housing options in the state. Teams will build collaboratives within their communities and benefit from peer learning with each other to better understand the context and challenges of affordable housing and related issues, as well as design and implement strategies to respond effectively.

Communities that wish to apply for the program must submit an online application by November 22, 2024.

NC keychain opening door
NC keychain opening door

Program Basics

Is your community interested in working to improve access to and availability of affordable housing options?

Gather your community partners and apply to become a collaborative in this 18-month program.

Participating communities will receive resources, deep expert and peer support, and robust technical assistance to help implement and sustain this work.

Selected collaboratives will make a deep local impact and build statewide capacity to address housing challenges.

Expanding Our Reach

Carolina Across 100 is eager to partner with each of North Carolina’s 100 counties over the course of this 5-year initiative.

Our State, Our Homes is the newest opportunity for communities to get involved.

Encourage your community to submit an online application by November 22, 2024.

Learn more and get your questions answered by attending one of two online information sessions:

Info Session 1: October 9 from 12-1 PM

Info Session 2: October 28 from 11 AM – 12 PM

Please direct additional questions to Michael Welker, ncIMPACT Director of Policy and Research Partnerships, at mwelker@sog.unc.edu.

FAQs

Access to safe, quality, affordable housing remains out of reach for many in North Carolina. More than one million of North Carolina households are considered cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. This trend has been exacerbated in recent years, with increases in the costs to rent and buy homes exceeding the rate of wage growth. Communities across the state confront additional challenges that impact the availability of housing, from aging stock to short-term rentals to the impact of natural disasters.

As part of Carolina Across 100’s aim to create meaningful partnerships with communities across North Carolina to respond effectively to opportunities and challenges facing communities, our next program of work will address affordable housing. We will we will be active in sharing research and expertise throughout this pan-University effort with support from the UNC School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative and other campus partners, to improve access to and availability of affordable housing options in the state.

A cohort of communities will be selected to participate in this program of work. Communities may apply as an individual city or county, a municipal-county partnership, or a multi-county/regional collaborative. Each applicant team should include representatives from multiple organizations/sectors within the geographic region.

Each participating community collaborative team will be composed of a 3-5 member core team and a larger community-wide team. Because each community is different, we expect that each collaborative’s composition will vary. We strongly recommend that each applicant team includes at least one local government representative, but otherwise we do not require representation or participation from any one type of organization or agency. However, we expect that other common types of stakeholders participating in this work will include housing developers, builders, financial institutions, supportive service providers, employers, nonprofits and community organizations, faith-based institutions, and other stakeholders as appropriate to your community.

Who can provide letters of support is not limited. There are no specific rules about who the letters can come from as long as there is a demonstration of commitment from key stakeholders and a commitment of a core team.

Carolina Across 100 intends to provide limited funding for participating teams in the form of 1) a stipend for a project manager for each team, 2) an implementation award to fund a small community pilot project, and 3) reimbursement for travel expenses to learning forums in Chapel Hill. All other resources provided through this program are available for free to participating communities.

When evaluating applications for Our State, Our Homes, Carolina Across 100 will give strong preference to teams from counties that have not already participated in a prior program. However, participation in a previous Carolina Across 100 program is not strictly disqualifying for communities who wish to apply for Our State, Our Homes.

Carolina Across 100 is committed to widely sharing all that we learn through our community-based programs. All communities can access resources, publications, webinar recordings, and other materials from on the Carolina Across 100 website throughout the Our State, Our Homes program.