Representing NC in DC

“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” This quote from Confucius was Senator Jeff Merkley’s opening line as he addressed hundreds of affordable housing advocates at the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s recent conference. Chris and I, along with a dozen other dedicated advocates from North Carolina were sitting amongst the crowd.

Merkley, the Junior Senator from Oregon, is a housing advocate in his own right. Before coming to Washington DC, he was director of Habitat for Humanity of Portland and director of housing development for Human Solutions, another affordable housing provider in Oregon. He is the only current Senator who has worked in the affordable housing industry. He spoke the crowd about the Housing legislation that will, with any luck, be moving in the U.S. Senate this year. He spoke of the impending financial reform bill and the need for a strong consumer protection agency. He shared that he recently added an amendment to the bill banning prepayment penalties because “we need to deal with consumer issues on a real-time basis”. He also announced that Senator Schumer of New York will be introducing a housing preservation bill as a companion to the bill that moving in the House.

Conference-goers heard from many other leaders on affordable housing issues including Representative Barney Frank, Donna Gambrell, Director of CDFI for the Treasury Department, and Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

While in DC, our North Carolina contingent spent a day and a half meeting with our members of Congress on Capital Hill. We were lucky to have advocates representing all parts of the housing spectrum to help convey our priorities to the Congressional members. Victor Galloway of NCIMED shared the importance of financial reform and strong consumer protections; Nicole Kiefer of the ARC and Kay Zwan of the disAbility Resource Center gave compelling testimony for the need to pass reform of the section 811 housing program for individuals with disabilities; Denise Neunaber of the NC Coalition to End Homelessness asked members to adequately fund McKinney-Vento to better serve the homeless in our state.

For me, it is always invigorating and humbling to be in DC, our nation’s capital; to stand in the shadow of the Capitol Building, where decisions are made that shape the future of our county. As I was proud to be able to represent the NC Housing Coalition, educate our elected officials about the housing needs in North Carolina, and share the experience with so many passionate and devoted affordable housing advocates.

Carley Ruff

Policy and Outreach Coordinator

Farewell

Well, the end of the year has come. It seems like such a short time ago that I was greeting you all as an intern at the Housing Coalition. I have really enjoyed the time that I have spent at the agency. While here I was able to interact with many of you in the community through our statewide asset forums, board meetings, and general community meetings.

I want to especially thank the staff of the Housing Coalition, you have been a great support throughout the year. I learned so much while interacting with you. I appreciate all the time we spent together.

In two weeks, the other intern, Alex, and I will be graduating with our Masters in Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill. Although this is a very exciting time for us, we regret having to leave such a wonderful organization that truly advocates for the best interest of North Carolinians. I look forward to hearing about the continuing success of the agency. I wish you all the best of luck!

Best Wishes!

Jessica Parker

Raleigh New Development Code: Diagnostic and Approach Report - Comments from the North Carolina Housing Coalition

On Tuesday, April 20, our Policy and Outreach Coordinator, Carley Ruff, presented the following to the Raleigh City Council:


Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to offer my comments on the Diagnostic and Approach Report for Raleigh’s New Development Code. My name is Carley Ruff and I live at 3939 Glenwood Ave. Raleigh, NC 27612. I am speaking on behalf of the North Carolina Housing Coalition. We are a statewide non-profit organization working to increase investment in quality, affordable housing that promotes self-determination and stable communities for low- and moderate-income North Carolinians. Although the NC Housing Coalition serves the entire state, we are headquartered here in Raleigh and are extremely invested in the future growth and development of our Capital City.

In general, we are pleased with the recommendations put forward in Code Studio’s Diagnostic and Approach Report. I’d like to focus my comments on the portion of the DAR that focus on housing choice and affordable housing.

Housing Choices
Raleigh’s current code discourages a variety of housing types and the Housing Coalition agrees this must change. The Housing Coalition supports adding a variety of defined housing types in all residential neighborhoods, such as semi-attached, duplexes, accessory dwellings, townhouses and other innovative housing strategies. Allowing for greater housing variety increases opportunities for affordable housing development.

The Diagnostic and Approach Report states that housing variety should be included in “existing residential districts where appropriate.” How will you define which areas are “appropriate”? The Housing Coalition believes that in order to ensure that affordable housing opportunities are widely available, a variety of housing types should be allowed in all residential neighborhoods as long as they fit the neighborhood context. Current zoning should be reviewed to ensure that this type of variety is allowed. New developments and retrofits in existing neighborhoods should not be exempt from being required to provide affordable housing options.

Accessory Dwelling Units
We support the recommendation to extend the use of accessory dwelling units. Accessory dwelling units may be the best strategy for promoting housing choice and increasing density in existing neighborhoods that are unwilling to alter their suburban character. The Housing Coalition agrees that the city should allow accessory dwelling units, both attached and detached, in all residential districts. Small lot housing presents another innovative and potentially successful strategy that is currently blocked by the existing development code.

Life Cycle Housing
The Housing Coalition also applauds the recommendation to pursue the principle of life cycle housing. This not only promotes a diversity of housing type, but also diversity among the families and individuals living within the same community; another way to create community cohesion. Again, we believe that opportunities to follow the “lifecycle housing” model should be available in all residential neighborhoods.

Inclusionary Zoning
As the report notes, inclusionary zoning has the potential to be a powerful and positive tool to create affordable housing options throughout the city. While some communities have used incentivized voluntary inclusionary zoning programs, the most effective programs are mandatory. They produce more units, for a wider range of people, with greater predictability. The Housing Coalition believes that mandatory inclusionary zoning is the only way to ensure that affordable housing options are available in high growth areas of the city and particularly in the development around transit lines. It would ensure a variety of housing choices for Raleigh’s diverse and growing labor force. As Wake county moves to neighborhood-based school assignment, mandatory inclusionary zoning would help to economically diversify neighborhoods and schools.

We believe that promoting housing choice for Raleigh residents should be considered in all aspects of the new code. From future transportation corridors to existing established neighborhoods - safe, quality, affordable housing connected to jobs, services, and high achieving schools should be available to everyone who calls Raleigh home.