Articles we found interesting this week:

1. Like the United States, Denmark is one of the very few countries that allows 30-year fixed mortgages.  Because so many Americans are locked into very low mortgage rates, there is even more downward pressure on housing supply.  However, Denmark uses a unique bond finance tool to help alleviate this unfortunate byproduct of this “lock-in effect.”

2. Raleigh recently announced a pilot project try help alleviate tent encampments.  Here is a Vox article that discusses a similar approach.

3. Raleigh is studying Montgomery, Maryland’s cutting-edge approach to financing and building affordable housing.  Here is a recent article discussing the program in the New York Times.

4. Even Singapore’s robust public housing system is facing an affordability crisis, the New York Times reports.

5. As communities strive to rebuild community trust and social capital, the idea of a “polis station” that combines public safety elements into a mixed-use public amenity seems promising. From Politico.

6. This is a great article supporting the idea that upzoning to allow 3-5-story buildings across large swaths of a city can have great “context-appropriate” urban density, via Bloomberg.

7. Returning to the idea of “housing as a verb.” 

8. Less affordable housing is a windfall for current homeowners. Read it from Southern Urbanism.

9. Here is more support for Raleigh’s recent Missing Middle reforms combined with the elimination of minimum parking requirements, via Sightline.

10. Here is another reason to end housing insecurity-it impairs educational outcomes for children from the Urban Institute.

Meetings of interest in the week ahead:

City Council meets on June 3 and 4. Meetings, events and items of interest this week:

1. Council continues its deliberations on the New Bern Avenue BRT Corridor rezoning (Z-92-22). For information about what property Council is reviewing on Tuesday, click here.

2. Council will hear from staff and continue its discussion regarding transit fare fee strategies.

3. Council will receive a report from the Growth and Natural Resources Committee for Z-40-23, which proposes to build affordable housing units in the Falls Lake Watershed. Here is a link to the agenda materials. RaleighForward recently published a blog post about the policy tradeoffs posed by this rezoning.

4. Council will hold its final Budget work session on June 3 at 4:00 pm. Council will then conduct a public hearing on the budget at 7:00 pm. The budget will be released on May 21 and can be found at budget.raleighnc.gov. Here is an IndyWeek article with more detail about the budget proposal and tax increases and additional detail here. The median home after revaluation is $391,705, with a tax bill of $1,390. Prior to revaluation and with the higher rate, the median home of $257,730 paid $1,115 in taxes. Because property values changed differently across the City, every property owner’s calculation will be different. Also, keep in mind that this does not include the additional Wake County budget component of Raleigh property taxes.

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