NC lawmakers file bills to make it easier to build and manage workforce housing
Two bills filed in the North Carolina House in recent days would make it easier for local governments and developers to build, manage and maintain workforce housing.
House Bill 306 would authorize Blowing Rock, Boone, Watauga County and the Watauga County Board of Education to construct and provide affordable employee housing on property owned by the governmental units.
The bill comes as western North Carolina struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region a little more than six months ago. Approximately 73,700 homes in the region suffered damage and more than 8,800 homes had major damage or were destroyed. The price tag for housing assistance has been estimated at $15.4 billion.
HB 306 was filed by Rep. Ray Pickett, a Blowing Rock Republican but has bipartisan support. Reps. Vernetta Alston and Zack Hawkins, both Durham Democrats, are among the bill's cosponsors. Alston filed a bill last year to build allow workforce housing to be built in Durham. The bill never got off the ground. Several previous attempts to get legislation passed to build workforce housing in Durham also failed to win support from Republican leader who control the General Assembly.
Under HB 306, the governmental units may provide workforce housing separately or through a partnership, joint venture, land trust or similar entity. It also authorizes them to contract to finance, construct or maintain affordable housing for local government employees and to rent or sell affordable housing for residential use exclusively to local government unit employees. Local governments may 'charge below-market rates, offer below-market financing, and place reasonable restrictions and buyback provisions on the resale of housing units,' the bill states.
Workforce housing already exists in North Carolina and has been used by some counties to attract and retain teachers, particularly to rural regions where lower tax bases make it difficult to pay competitive local salary supplements. Local supplements are paid from local funds. It's money teachers receive on top of state pay. Wealthier counties such as Durham, Orange and Wake can pay higher supplements.
Low wealth counties see workforce housing as a way to attract and retain teachers. Less than a year ago, Bertie County, one of the state's low-wealth counties, opened a 24-unit, two-bedroom apartment complex it built to provide housing for as many as 40 teachers
'Rural communities like Bertie [County] often lose out attracting viable candidates to urban areas where there is shopping, great restaurants, entertainment and other amenities,' BCS Superintendent Otis Smallwood told Newsline last year. 'In addition, Bertie County…is not able to pay teachers large local supplements like larger districts. Layer all of that with inadequate housing and you have a recipe for not being able to attract enough talent to educate the youth in our community. In many instances, we have to rely on recruiting international teachers.'
North Carolina already has several affordable housing projects for teachers. Duke TeachHouse in Durham, for example, is a living and learning community for early career teachers and graduates of Duke University's teacher preparation programs. Others include Williams Baldwin Court in Asheville for teachers who work for Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools, and Hertford Pointe in Ahoskie for Hertford County Schools' teachers. The Dare County Education Foundation offers 24 housing units in Kill Devil Hills and 12 units in Hatteras for teachers employed by Dare County Schools.
Another bill introduced in the House on Monday would create a revolving loan fund in the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to provide short-term financing to support preconstruction costs of workforce housing projects.
House Bill 603 was filed by Democratic Leader Robert Reives. It would create the Workforce Housing Preconstruction Revolving Loan Program to make loans available to developers before they obtain permanent, private financing.
Eligible uses for loans would include land surveys, environmental due diligence and soil testing, utility connections, planning and permit fees and site clearing and grading. Loans would be capped at $1 million.
Under HB 603, 80% of projects would be reserved for counties designated as development Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas. Counties with those designations are among the state's most economically distressed. The remaining 20% would be reserved for projects in, wealthier Tier 3 areas.
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