RaleighForward Roundup | Volume XXIV

ALERT! If you are interested in housing affordability and PRESERVING the City’s recently adopted Missing Middle regulatory reform, please mark your calendars! During Council’s March 21 Work Session, staff will review with Council the public input received during the City’s Missing Middle informational sessions held across the City over the last 2 months. While Council is unlikely to act during the meeting, it will serve as the starting point for Council to determine how/whether to amend or repeal the Missing Middle ordinance passed in July. 

The informational sessions were driven by neighborhood opposition to a proposed 18-unit townhome community in the Hayes Barton neighborhood. Research supports that allowing development of small-scale residential housing (i.e., duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings) in residential zoning districts can help reverse the socioeconomic damage caused by exclusionary zoning ordinances. As noted in a recent Vox article: “Exclusionary zoning laws essentially trap many Black families into low-income neighborhoods by pricing them out of richer ones”. No one claims that Missing Middle reform (or any other reform) alone will solve the housing affordability crisis. Rather, Missing Middle reform is one component of a diverse set of reforms Raleigh has enacted that, taken together, will start to address the problem. 

To learn more about this issue, please consider signing up for the RaleighForward newsletter and visiting the Missing Middle Resource Page. Feel free contact us directly at info@raleighforward.org with specific questions or if you want to get involved.

Articles we found interesting this week:

1. Why Doesn't Austin Have More Affordable Housing? Via Bloomberg.

2. Eligibility is often the first question that arises when people discuss subsidized affordable housing and other subsidized programs. This article published by the Richmond Fed discusses these definitions and their application.

3. Here is an interesting podcast discussing recent research examining how new market-rate housing influences prevailing rental rates of housing within the same neighborhoods. Listen here.

4. Here is a link to the research discussed in the podcast mentioned above.

5. Housing affordability is at the lowest level than at any time since the Great Recession. Read more.

6. Here is a report from the Richmond Fed on housing supply and pricing data for North Carolina through the end of 2022.

7. This article discusses how Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), while not a panacea, can help address housing affordability. Learn more.

8. Here is an opinion piece describing how neighborhood opposition arises in response to relatively modest real estate development / redevelopment proposals. Read it in the Wall Street Journal.

9. One of the primary reasons for the housing affordability crisis is a lack of inventory. Here is a CNN report that suggests the Country is short 6.5 million homes.

10. Nice to see other cities across the Country following Raleigh’s lead in eliminating parking minimums. Awash in Asphalt, Cities Rethink Their Parking Needs. Read it in the NYT.

11. Can modular construction help address housing affordability? Here is an Urban Land Institute article discussing the issue.

12. YIMBY Zoning Reform Sweeps the Mountain West. Read about it.

13. Charlotte renters are paying more for smaller apartments compared to those in Raleigh. Read about it in Axios.

Additional Items of Interest:

1. The NC General Assembly passed legislation recently that makes it easier for hotels to evict people experiencing homelessness. The Governor could veto it, but it remains to be seen if there are enough votes to override it. If there is no veto, this legislation will put additional pressure on cities to find better ways to help people facing housing insecurity. Here is a link to the legislation.

2. On a more positive note, the NC General Assembly is considering a bill that expands the availability of the existing property tax circuit breaker statute beyond just people with disabilities and those over 65. Though the income limits are not being adjusted, expanding eligibility is a good first step. It remains unclear if the legislation will pass. Here is a link to the legislation. And here is a link to an explainer about how the circuit breaker operates (note that it is undated and the income limits adjust each year, so those may not be accurate).

Council Meetings and Other Items of Interest:

City Council met on Tuesday, March 7. During the afternoon session, Council discussed several items of interest.

1. It approved several additional positions requested by the Police Department for the City’s ACORNS program. Those positions include an additional supervisor and 3 social workers. This is a substantial expansion of the ACORNS program which helps police deal with residents experiencing a mental health crisis.

2. Council agreed to schedule a work session in April to discuss possible changes to how City Council is elected. Specific topics to be included were not discussed but might include moving to 4-year staggered terms, moving to a primary, returning to a runoff and expanding the size of Council election. We have heard that the 4 newest Council members are receptive to moving to a primary election but would need a 5th vote to make it happen.

3. Rezoning Z-75-22 was back before Council after a month's delay. The request seeks to rezone approximately 2.3 acres from Residential-4 to Residential-6. Under the current Residential-4 zoning, the owner could build 16 houses while the requested Residential 6 Conditional Use district would allow no more than 25 townhouses. Recall District E Councilor Christina Jones asked that the case be deferred on February 7 to get more information on traffic impacts. The case came back before Council on March 7. Instead of acting on the rezoning request, Councilor Jones again asked for the case to be deferred until staff completes additional analysis. Council deferred the case to April.

   While seeking additional information regarding traffic and pedestrian safety is reasonable, linking this analysis to a rezoning case seeking only to add 9 additional townhouses is not. It’s hard to imagine any traffic increase caused by 9 additional homes could justify facility improvements like installing a traffic signal, turn lane, etc. Also worth noting, the case is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, the Future Land Use Map and received a 7-0 vote recommending approval by the Planning Commission. These delays for such incremental additional density add to the costs for badly needed housing units.

4. Along those same lines, Council deferred Z-55-22 to “encourage” additional negotiation between the applicant and the neighbors because the neighbors desire that one of the proposed structures be reduced from 8-stories to 12-stories. This comes despite the fact that the applicant agreed to a neighborhood demand to wrap a proposed parking deck on another part of the development with active uses. This additional request to reduce building height by 4-stories will eliminate a substantial number of proposed residential units. As the discussion proceeded, Councilor Melton expressed a desire for the applicant to allow outdoor seating on the site and also to consider increasing the height of a proposed parking deck (located on another street) to offset the potential loss of residential units on the other building. This delay and the loss of a significant number of potential residential units will do nothing more than exacerbate the City’s ongoing housing affordability crisis.

5. Rezoning cases Z-61-22, Z-65-22, Z-74-22 and Z-81-22 were approved by Council, while Z-43-22, Z-75-22, Z-55-22 and Z-82-22 were deferred.

6. Continuing on the housing affordability theme, the City is seeking input from Raleigh residents on its 5-year Consolidated Plan. The Plan addresses how the City will use funding to support affordable housing and community development initiatives. There will be several community engagement opportunities in March and a Public Hearing on the report is scheduled for April 4. Ultimately, the approved plan will be submitted to HUD. For more information, click here.

7. The City’s annual budgeting process is in full swing. Council’s March 13 work session will include staff presentations from the following departments:

   1. Planning and Development Services

   2. Stormwater Management

   3. Solid Waste Services

   4. Raleigh Water

   These presentations typically involve information relating to the setting of fees for each of each department. The Office of Community Engagement will also present the findings of the City’s resident survey asking about budget priorities for 2023. 

8. The City is sponsoring a workshop for small-scale homebuilders on March 31st. There is a registration requirement for participation. Additional information is available here.

9. Raleigh’s Planning Academy is set to launch this Spring. Are you interested in learning more about the community planning process? Do you want to understand what guides land development or how to navigate a rezoning case? This is the program for you. Click here for the application materials. The deadline to apply is March 20th.

10. For the first time in a while, there are ZERO rezoning applications on the Planning Commission agenda for Tuesday, March 14. PC will be considering a significant stormwater text change driven by changes in state law. For more information about TC-1-23, click here. PC will also review the results of a survey of PC members about the Equity and Climate Change section of the standard rezoning staff report. Based on the survey results and discussion during the meeting, changes to the standard staff report may be suggested. 

11. Planning Commission’s Text Change Committee will review the Mobile Retail Ordinance (TC-1-22). The intent of the Text Change is to reduce the regulatory burden, particularly by reducing spacing and seating requirements, while also allowing limited signage for food trucks and other forms of mobile retail.

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