Articles we found interesting this week:

1. As housing affordability continues to challenge Raleigh policy makers, some argue that inclusionary housing is the “missing” tool that could move the needle in affordable housing production (setting aside its questionable legality).  This Shelterforce article does an excellent job exploring the issues and complexity of inclusionary housing policies.  One interesting fact noted in the article is that the top 20 most productive inclusionary zoning programs produce an average of only 225 units per year.  Over time, that can make a difference, but like any other housing affordability tool, it is no silver bullet solution. Since the issue is likely not going away, we encourage you to read the article. From Shelterforce.

2. High interest rates, along with elevated material costs are expected to drastically reduce the number of new apartment projects across the country, particularly those that are geared toward lower income residents. More from Bloomberg.

3. New York City’s Mom-and-Pop Shops are Dying Off.  That’s a Problem for all Cities. Read it here.

4. A fight erupts in the U.S. housing market as deteriorating affordability clashes with the 'lock-in effect.' Housing economists say neither force should be ignored. Read it in Fortune.

5. There have been a number of recent articles about Vienna’s Social Housing, but this interview discusses Britain’s version called “Council Housing.” From ShelterForce.

6. What do the ‘YIMBYs’ of Northern Virginia Want? Learn more here.

7. There has been much written about the difficulties of converting vacant office buildings into housing, but this Washington Post Opinion piece does a really nice job illustrating the issue. For more detailed look at the issue, here is a recent research paper that tries to identify specific characteristics of certain office buildings that make them conversion candidates. 

8. In a rare alliance, Democrats and Republicans seek legal authority to clear homeless camps. Read it in the New York Times. 

9. Like many other fast-growing cities, Raleigh’s homeless population is growing, along with the number of people dealing with housing insecurity. This has led to a growing number of people living in tent encampments.  One tool to help reduce tent encampments and provide a better way to deliver services to this community is through low barrier shelter options.  This Shelterforce article looks at a model that uses motel conversions as shelter.  Here are two additional articles discussing the use of hotels to address homelessness, from Planetizen and the South Bend Tribune. Wake County recently announced an effort to convert a motel for this purpose, covered by this N&O article.

10. Housing affordability declined to its lowest level on record in July after a major shift in the data. Check the latest national and local numbers with the Atlanta Fed's HOAM tool.  According to the data, it requires someone living in the Raleigh/Cary Metro Area making the median income of $93,547 to spend an average of 40% of their income in order to buy a home.  That is the lowest level of affordability since at least 2014. 

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn