January 5th Newsletter
RaleighForward and WakeUP are working with the National Civic League to develop a program for the first quarter of 2025 on emerging trends in community engagement and public comment. Be on the lookout for more details in coming newsletters.
To help RaleighForward continue to make these programs available to the community, please consider donating here. If you are interested in sponsoring an event, please reach out to eric@raleighforward.org.
An interview with Jerusalem Demsas appeared in Bloomberg’s CityLab a few months ago. Jerusalem’s book, On The Housing Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy is a collection of essays. According to CityLab, she writes that “lawmakers should address housing unaffordability by focusing on a severe shortage of homes.”
In her essays, she examines how democratic changes could impact housing policy and voters do not engage effectively with local political issues. RaleighForward and WakeUP’s upcoming work with the National Civic League will aim to be part of the solution for issues like this in our community. It is our hope that Raleigh residents are empowered to engage effectively with local government and influence public policy.
Articles of interest:
Intergenerational Housing could help Older Adults Combat Loneliness, Bloomberg reports.
Homelessness hit record high in the United States in 2024, The Hill reports.
Here is a thoughtful article exploring the economics of various housing “subsidy” tools.
Why Turning Churches into Housing is so Hard, via Bloomberg.
How using basic guaranteed income helps homeless gain stability, while preserving dignity and equity, via CBPP. Durham recently announced a guaranteed basic income program. Click here for details.
Raleigh’s Greyhound bus station will not be part of the new RUS Bus facility being built near Union Station.
A symposium on tackling the housing crisis, from The American Prospect.
More states and cities are legalizing co-living arrangements. Raleigh recently passed an ordinance that allows co-living, but it is too limited to make a significant impact. See this also from Pew Trusts.
Co-living reforms could facilitate the office-to-residential conversions, also from Pew Trusts.
Here is a nice summary of housing issues from across the country heading into 2025.
From the Data Department:
Wake County median real estate value increased by $5000.00 to $460,000, via the Wake County Register of Deeds.
Items of interest in the week ahead:
Council meets for the first time in 2025 on January 7. The agenda is fairly light, but here is one item worth reviewing:
The City is having difficulty retaining a contractor to build its first BRT line on New Bern Avenue. The first attempted bid process resulted in no bids, so staff adjusted the bid package and tried again. The second bid package produced only a single bidder at approximately $112 Million, while the City estimated the cost at $71 Million. Staff is asking Council to reject the sole bidder because it came in about 59% over the budgeted amount. Council will now have to decide how to proceed. Hopefully, Council will consider increasing the budgeted amount for this BRT line rather than value-engineering the project given its importance as the first BRT line in Raleigh and will set a precedent for the other 3 proposed BRT routes. For mor information, click here.
Other community meetings and items of interest:
The City is combining the Offices of Neighborhood Enrichment and Community Engagement. The goal is to create a more efficient and dynamic way to reach more deeply into neighborhoods to build relationships and connect residents across the City. For more details, click here.
The City is beginning the budget process for the next fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025. As part of the engagement process for the budget, a series of listening sessions begins on January 6. For details, click here.