September 15th Newsletter
Hello,
There’s lots of work to be done, particularly as the City Council election approaches, so please DONATE or reach out to donate your time at eric@raleighforward.org!
REMINDER: RaleighForward’s next Happy Hour is set for Wednesday, September 25 at the home of RaleighForward’s Founder, Eric Braun. We look forward to seeing you between 5:30 and 7:30. The address is 3316 Rock Creek Drive (27609). All Council candidates have been invited to attend.
Save the Date: Because there are so many events demanding the attention of City Council candidates, RaleighForward is hosting another Candidate Happy Hour on October 17 from 5:30 and 7:30. We want to celebrate the start of early voting and give all candidates an opportunity to meet with RaleighForward supporters. Location will be announced soon.
Eric Braun, Founder
This week, the TBJ published a story about a recently approved condominium community near Chavis Park. The development is noteworthy because it uses the Frequent Transit Development Overlay, which is part of the City’s Missing Middle housing reform, to increase density in exchange for providing affordable units. Instead of building 12 market rate units, the developer used the FTDO option to build 21 units with 2 being reserved for residents making 60% AMI for 30 years. These units are being built on a .45-acre parcel. One of the most exciting aspects of the project is the $395,000 to $585,000 price range.
This is further evidence that Missing Middle reforms continue to increase and diversify Raleigh’s housing inventory at an accelerated pace.
To review the approved plans for this development, click here.
Articles of interest:
An affordable housing experiment could be a gamechanger for the housing crisis, via Vox.
Here is a Pew Charitable Trust report exploring state-level reforms that are helping to speed up the housing entitlement process.
The Labyrinthine Rules that Created a Housing Crisis, from the Atlantic.
How Local Governments Could Make Use of Kamala Harris’ Housing Plan, from Governing.
The median price of Wake County real estate dropped again in August by $13,000 to $4550,000. Prices continue slowly dropping since hitting a high of $474,000 in April. Check out the RaleighForward data page for more details and trends.
How housing costs influence rates of homelessness, from Pew Charitable Trusts.
Reports and Data Analytics:
Since Council legalized ADUs in late 2021, there have been 160 permits approved and 109 ADUs completed. There are 44 more permits in the review pipeline. To take a deeper dive into the data, click here.
Items of interest in the week ahead:
Council meets on September 17, 2023. Typical for the lead-up to an election, Council’s agenda is fairly light:
During the 11:30 work session, staff will provide a status report on projects funded by Raleigh’s recent $275,000,000 park bond. Click here for details.
Council will consider allocating $7,100,000 in gap financing for 2 affordable housing communities totaling 294 new residential units. Click here for details.
Council will consider allocating $15,000,000 for the construction of 160 affordable rental units near Moore Square. For details, click here.
Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed closure of a portion of South Street in order to facilitate the relocation of Red Hat Ampitheatre and expansion of the convention center. Click here for details.
Other items of interest:
1. The City has finally started going vertical on the long-delayed construction of the first building as part of Raleigh’s new civic campus. It’s taken nearly 10 years, but work has finally begun. You can monitor the progress here.