The federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) is not well understood, but is responsible for more than $1 billion of new real estate activity in North Carolina each year. Currently the state has more than 1,200 properties containing 70,000 units in almost every county, yet odds are hardly anyone reading this post can name one. How did the […]
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Posted inCHALT, Chapel Hill, Journalism
Advice for The Local Reporter’s sixth editor
It remains problematic that the entire board of The Local Reporter has close ties to CHALT, an organization with a PAC that recruits and runs candidates in local elections.
Posted inFrom the archives, Chapel Hill, Housing
When Howard Lee moved to Colony Woods
Earlier this week, a brand new sign went up on Chapel Hill Transit’s operations center. The Howard and Lillian Lee Transit Operations Center now honors the Lees. Howard Lee served as Chapel Hill’s mayor from 1969 to 1975, started our bus system and the Mountains-to-Sea trail, and was the first Black mayor to serve Chapel […]
Posted inHousing, Triangle Region
We need to talk about the $2 million townhouses in Raleigh
Chapel Hill’s new missing middle housing proposal has drawn a number of themes which we’ve covered before. Among them: this will lower property values, this will raise property values (?), this will affect neighborhood character, and we can’t do this because look at what’s happening in Raleigh. What’s happening in Raleigh? Taking advantage of Raleigh’s […]
Posted inHousing
When we talk about housing policy, we need to talk about counterfactuals
Advocates for more missing middle housing routinely claim that decreasing the barriers to building new houses will lead to (slightly) lower rents. The underlying logic is that more supply, all else being equal, will lead to a new, and lower equilibrium price. Opponents of missing middle housing will point to cities and towns with increasing […]
Posted inCarrboro Town Council, Carrboro
Chatting with Carrboro Town Council Member Susan Romaine
We’re starting a series of interviews with Council Members in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Today we’re speaking with Carrboro Town Council member (and Mayor Pro Tem) Susan Romaine who is the founder of Orange County Living Wage and PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Romaine, who was elected in 2019, serves as Council’s liaison to the Economic Sustainability […]