November 30, 2025 Newsletter
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Our annual reception is on December 4th with WakeUP Wake County. We want to give you a free ticket to come.
RaleighForward is excited once again to partner with WakeUP Wake County on our annual reception on December 4th. Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Jenny Schuetz, a prolific writer on housing markets and author of the book Fixer Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems, it is sure to be a great event.
RaleighForward is excited to give some of the remaining tickets for the reception away. Here’s the only ask: We want to hear from you.
Email eric@raleighforward.org with an answer to one or more of these questions:
What is a book you recommend for those who want to understand affordable housing better?
What is an event / program you would like to see us put together in 2026?
Where would you like to see us do Happy Hours in 2026? Either a specific venue or a neighborhood / general location.
We want to hear from you as we plan activities for 2026, so get back to us and we will follow up with the winners as soon as we can!
Still want to contribute financially? You can buy tickets. Purchase them here.
Supporting RaleighForward
If you are interested in helping RaleighForward carry out our Mission and Vision, please reach out to eric@raleighforward.org. We could use help building RaleighForward’s social media reach, fundraising, and newsletter content.
Articles and Resources of interest:
With the recent election of Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, who made housing affordability one of her campaign themes, the Virginia General Assembly is likely to consider legislation to tackle the problem. The outcome could serve as a blueprint for future action by North Carolina lawmakers.
America’s Housing Crisis, in One Chart. America is still building fewer houses now than it was prior to the Great Recession.
Downzoning Chicago: How Local Land Use Policy Has Reduced Housing Construction and Reinforced Segregation. Read it here.
The Housing Strategy that has California NIMBYs in a Corner.
A Piece of Civic Infrastructure that Works. Hint: it’s simple and inexpensive.
Building Smarter: Why North Carolina Should Consider Single-Stair Housing.
Cities with the Highest and Lowest Resident Satisfaction Rates. Click through to see where Raleigh stands. Also, since 2016 Raleigh conducts a comprehensive resident survey every 2 years. To review the results of past surveys, click here.
From the Data Department:
The Urban Institute recently unveiled a new affordability tracker that illustrates how Americans are struggling to afford the basics of everyday life. Until things change, housing will never be affordable for most people. The tool can be found here.
Raleigh City Council meets on December 2. Here are some items of interest:
On Council’s Consent Agenda, staff will ask for approval of a consultant contract for developing a Nash Square Public Realm plan that is intended to establish a roadmap for integrating historic Nash Square into the evolving land use around the square, including the impending completion of the first and future phases of the Civic Campus, as well as the future development of the former News & Observer building, among others. For the agenda materials, click here.
Staff will ask Council to approve updates and refinements to the City’s Tax Increment Grant Reimbursement Policy. The City Council adopted a Tax Increment Grant (TIG) policy on May 4, 2021, creating a new partnership tool whereby the City could reimburse private partners a share of their future tax increment when they enhance an economic development project with public infrastructure or other eligible benefits. To date, the policy has not been effectively utilized. As a result, staff presented a revised and simplified update to the policy during a September works session that would leverage several sources of reimbursement authority to create a program with broader applicability and potential for wider uptake. Revisions have been made to the draft policy from City Council input and additional review by Wake County. For the agenda backup materials, click here.
The Office of Community Engagement will provide an update on efforts to continue implementing the reimagining of Citizen Advisory Councils since a prior City Council disbanded them. The update will also include recommendations for additional tools to help continue capacity-building efforts for CACs. Agenda backup material can be found here. RaleighForward has written about the evolving role of CAC’s here, here and here.
Reflecting Raleigh is the process for developing the next Comprehensive Plan for the City. Phase two of the project will focus on plan development in collaboration with five topic-based teams of subject matter experts: land use, transportation, housing & neighborhoods, natural resources, and infrastructure & services. Each team will be comprised of city staff, representatives from council-appointed boards and commissions, and subject matter experts from the Raleigh community.
Each team will also include five external community experts. 147 external technical experts applied for 25 seats. Inter-departmental teams of staff reviewed all applicants and selected participants based on related experience and interest.During the meeting staff will share information about the scope of work and the recommended composition for each technical team. For backup material on who applied and who staff is recommending for serving on the technical teams, click here.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires the City to conduct two public hearings to receive community input on the Annual Action Plan for fiscal year 2026-2027. On November 18, 2025, City Council authorized the first public hearing to be held at their meeting on December 2, 2025. Staff will present information about the Annual Action Plan at the hearing, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on housing and community development needs. Backup material can be found here.
Other items of interest:
The City has put together a “Program Catalog” to help residents better understand how the City spends public funds.
Raleigh is changing how it handles leaf collections. Click here to find out about the new options.
Click here for the latest City Manager Report.