Our State, Our Homes
Partnering to Address Affordable Housing Needs in North Carolina
An 18-month program to help communities develop capacity, analyze challenges, and implement strategies to address affordable housing and related issues in North Carolina
Launched by Carolina Across 100 with support from the Development Finance Initiative and other campus partners
Meet the “Our State, Our Homes” Community Collaboratives
Carolina Across 100 and The Development Finance Initiative are partnering with 14 teams from every region of North Carolina to address housing challenges. The selected teams are composed of business, civic, education, nonprofit, faith-based, and government entities from 22 counties across the state. Learn more about each team below.
Team Updates
Demand for this program was strong! Carolina Across 100 is committed to sharing program resources and findings to help all North Carolina communities benefit from the work of the Our State, Our Homes program. We will regularly update this page and the CX100 Stories page with learnings, updates, and resources!
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January 16, 2025
Kickoff Webinar
Community leaders representing participating teams will gather online with Carolina Across 100 to kick off the Our State, Our Homes program!
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February 18-19, 2025
Forum One
Carolina Across 100 will welcome leaders from 14 community teams to the UNC School of Government for their first in-person forum.
North Carolina’s Housing Challenges
More than one million households in North Carolina are housing cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing. This includes nearly one in five homeowners and almost half of the state’s renters. With limited supply, rising costs, and other issues, meeting local needs for safe, accessible, and affordable housing is a challenge for community leaders.
Meeting this challenge is critical for the state.
Economic Growth
North Carolina is the third-fastest growing state in the country, with more than 300,000 people moving from out-of-state each year. Access to affordable housing is critical to economic development; without a reliable, local workforce, communities may struggle to attract employers.
Household Prosperity
Rising housing costs leave North Carolinians with less money available to pay for other needs like food, transportation, childcare, and more. In 2022, the U.S. median “residual income” (amount a household has left over after housing costs) hit a record low of $310/month.
Health
The availability of safe, quality housing affects health outcomes. Public health experts say that your zip code, not your genetic code, is the most important predictor of long-term health.
Resources
Private Affordable Housing Development
- Local Government Support for Privately Owned Affordable Housing
- Conveying property to housing organization for low- and moderate-income homeownership
- Affordable Housing Powers for Local Governments – Chart
- How a North Carolina Local Government Can Operate a Land Bank for Redevelopment
- Using a Redevelopment Area to Attract Private Investment
Zoning and Land Use
- What Conditions Can Be Included in Conditional Zoning?
- Use of Development Agreements to Manage Large-Scale Development in NC
- A Primer on Inclusionary Zoning
- Meet the Granny Pod: Zoning Protection for Temporary Family Health Care Structures
- Can a Group Home be Zoned Out of the Neighborhood?
- Short-Term Rental Regulations after Schroeder
- Build-To-Rent Communities and Local Regulations in North Carolina
- Enforcement of Development Regulations
- A Few Thoughts on Community Appearance and Design Controls
Property Tax and Affordable Housing
- Taxation of Affordable Housing in Community Land Trusts
- Property Tax Exemptions and Community Economic Development
- Special Property Tax Rules for Affordable Housing
- Gentrification and Property Tax Relief
- Options for Expanding the Circuit Breaker Exclusion
- Government Property, Private Leases, and Property Taxes
- Appraising Residential Rental Property
Code Enforcement
- Nuisance Abatement and Local Governments: What a Mess and What a Mess – Part II
- Periodic Inspections, Permits, and Registration of Residential Rental Property: Changes in 2017
- ABA Vacant & Problem Properties – Ch. 1 Local Govt Powers (Fully Annotated)
- Housing Codes for Repair and Maintenance (E-book)
- Receivership: A New Tool for Addressing Vacant Problem Properties in North Carolina
- CCP report on addressing vacancy & abandonment in High Point, NC (2016)
- CCP report on addressing vacancy & abandonment in Winston-Salem, NC (2019)
Our Partners
Participating communities will benefit from the expertise of UNC faculty and staff who specialize in housing and related issues. The Development Finance Initiative will be our primary subject matter expert for this endeavor.
DFI is a program of the UNC School of Government that partners with local governments to attract private investment for transformative projects by providing specialized finance and development expertise. Since its founding in 2011, DFI has partnered with over 200 communities to attract investment for development projects that accomplish local goals. In addition to assisting communities with downtown revitalization, neighborhood development, historic adaptive reuse, and other locally defined interests, DFI has worked with urban, suburban, and rural communities to provide technical assistance related to the development of housing for low- and moderate-income households. DFI’s technical assistance includes housing needs assessments, tailored educational workshops, identification of sites appropriate for affordable housing development, and pre-development feasibility analysis, as well as assisting local governments with the recruitment and identification of qualified private development partners.
In addition to DFI, this program will engage other UNC faculty, staff, and students from Kenan-Flagler Business School, School of Medicine, School of Government, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, and more.
