June 29 Newsletter
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Articles and Resources of interest:
Rising rent, not enough options: The Need for More Affordable Housing. Read more from Spectrum.
After Lahaina burned, an experiment in housing the most vulnerable. Read it in the Washington Post.
Pew Trust has a research project exploring how manufactured housing could help alleviate the housing crisis.
The US apartment-building boom that began about a decade ago appears to have ended last year, but it did so with a bang. It was the biggest year for apartment completions since 1986 and the biggest year ever for apartments in large buildings — that is, those with 30 to 49 and 50 or more units. This seems to be the case in Raleigh, but it will be interesting to see if demand for Missing Middle housing leads to more units in smaller buildings scattered across the City. More from Bloomberg here.
Should Raleigh / Wake County seek legislation to expand the dedicated revenue stream available to fund BRT? It seems Charlotte is succeeding in such an effort to expand its light rail system, according to the N&O.
Sprawl is Not the Answer. Pro-sprawl arguments propose building houses everywhere to address the US housing shortage, but this approach fails to address the root cause of the problem and introduces negative side effects, such as environmental degradation. Read about it from Bloomberg.
Although a bit late to the party, the Triangle Business Journal had a story about the accelerating issue of teardowns in neighborhoods across Raleigh. This underscores what RaleighForward has been advocating: Expanding Missing Middle reforms to all of Raleigh.
Renters are flooding the suburbs and new “suburban downtowns” because they cannot afford to buy and they rent where they can afford. This is exacerbating the financial pressure on cities like Raleigh and Cary as their population growth slows.
Is the American Dream Still Alive Today? Read the column in the Washington Post.
Rather than a new RFK Stadium Mega Project, should DC Try an Incremental Approach? Read this Washington Post column for more.
From the Data Department:
When people talk about income-restricted affordable or public housing, HUD sets income limits based on various income ranges: extremely low income (0-30% Area Median Income), very low income (50% Area Median Income) and low income (80% Area Median Income). Presently, Raleigh’s Area median Income is $132,700. For an explanation of how HUD uses these income limits, click here.
Items of Interest in the Week Ahead:
Council holds its regularly scheduled meeting on July 1, 2025. After this meeting, Council will take its summer break and will return for its August 19, 2025, meeting. Here are a few items of interest on the July 1 agenda:
Here are a few items of interest from the regular meeting agenda:
There are 3 affordable housing matters on the Consent Agenda. They relate to bond issuances and additional financing flexibility to help facilitate the rehabilitation and construction of hundreds of new affordable rental units. For more information click here, here and here.
It looks like the first portion of the New Bern BRT construction will finally get underway. The City received an acceptable bid for the first portion of the work after the City was forced to break the project into 3 bid packages. Click here for more detail.
The troubled Six Forks Road Improvement plan is back on Council’s agenda. Most recently, Council asked staff to modify the proposed improvements and only take them to Millbrook Road rather than Lynn Road. Staff went back and evaluated the cost of doing that and on Tuesday, staff will report that even the cost of the reduced project has now ballooned to $93.5 million. The reality is the Six Forks Road Improvement project is likely dead or will have to be so substantially modified as to provide very little public benefit. This is one example where too much community engagement over the years likely doomed what could have been a major bike/ped improvement to the North Hills area. To read more about the project, click here.
Council will receive an update on the retooling of Citizen Advisory Councils from staff. After Council disbanded CACs in 2020, more recent Councils have explored how to bring them back as a vehicle for information exchange but not in a way that hinders the review of rezoning cases. Click here for the agenda material.
Staff will update Council on major downtown projects like the Red Hat Amphitheatre relocation, the Chavis to Dix Stroll Way, Dix Park investments and other projects downtown. Click here for the agenda materials.
Council will receive a report of the Special Council Committee that was appointed to review and make recommendations regarding the City’s various Boards and Commissions. For more information, click here.
Council will conduct a public hearing to amend the affordable housing zoning condition for TCZ-3-25. The property is located on West Street and is the RUS Bus site. The applicant asked the City to allow it to amend the current zoning condition requiring the construction of at least 20 affordable housing units to allow for the payment of a $40,000 per unit fee in lieu of requiring the construction of affordable units. Click here for the agenda material.
Other Items of Interest:
On July 1, 2025, Raleigh is launching “Ask Raleigh,” which is intended to replace SeeClickFix. It is a beta test for an entirely new way for residents to communicate with the City. Click here for more information.
Raleigh is holding an Affordable Housing Summit Recap on July 10 to gather input from the public and to watch the keynote address. If you are interested in attending, click here to register.