January 19th 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.
Articles of interest:
Housing for the People: How Local Governments are Building Social Housing Solutions for the Public Good. Check it out here.
States embrace diverse strategies to ease housing supply constraints, Pew reports.
Fallout continues from the General Assembly’s passage of Senate Bill 382 as it relates to local government zoning authority. There are now rumors that state legislators are hearing from constituents about the negative impact the legislation will have. The UNC School of Government has put together a nice article exploring the impacts.
America’s Civic Culture is Battered, but not Broken, this op-ed in The Hill suggests.
Freedom Through Accountability: A Path to Civic Engagement. Read it here.
Montana is considering creating its own workforce housing tax credit modeled on the Federal low-income housing tax credit program, the Daily Montanan reports.
Maybe there is hope for Republicans and Democrats in the NC General Assembly to develop bipartisan legislation to address housing affordability and homelessness. Check out this article on efforts in Arizona.
This is an interesting article exploring why Houston never adopted zoning and how it uses other regulatory tools to guide development.
Majorities across Race and Ethnicity Support Policies to Allow More Housing, Pew reports.
The Role of State Policy in Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness and Former Foster Youth in Higher Education, via the Urban Institute.
Items of interest in the week ahead:
Council meets on January 21, 2025. Consistent with recent meetings, Council again has a fairly light agenda. Compared to 2023 and much of 2024, there are fewer rezoning cases in the pipeline. This is likely due to higher interest rates, soft demand for office space, as well as an increase in supply of new rental units that have come online in the last year or so.
Council will hold its annual retreat on January 24-25 in the Pioneers Building at Method Community Park. This is a public meeting, so residents are permitted to attend. Some of the items to be discussed include:
Friday, January 24
Strategic Plan Update Presentation
Legislative Agenda
Budget and Financial Outlook (Bonds and Steady State)
Public Comment Discussion
Saturday, January 25
Affordable Housing and Zoning
Smart Growth and Annexations
Boards and Commissions Discussion
Operational Update from the City Manager
Other community meetings and items of interest:
Raleigh was named the “Best Performing City” in the Large Metro category by the Milken Institute.
The City recently began the budget process for the next fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025. As part of the engagement process for the budget, staff completed a series of listening sessions on January 13. Staff will work to include the input collected in those sessions in the draft budget. To stay on top of the process as it proceeds to adoption in June, click here.