Housing GSO: HRA Greensboro Affordable Housing Plan

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY

NOTES | Community Engagement Meetings

May 29, 2019 Affordable Housing Developers and Non-Profits Focus Group

Attendees: Greensboro Housing Coalition, Community Housing Solutions, AHM, Habitat, East Greensboro Now

• CHS is CHDO, so we get money from City for gap financing, Community Partner Loan Pool, Wells Fargo, other grants/foundations supplement gaps between construction costs/selling price. Community Partner Loan Pool helps recover 20% of down payment costs • Access to credit is a barrier, interest rates from commercial banks not feasible • Gaps: o Housing stock: Homes priced at $110-$175K get multiple offers – this stock is missing, nothing else is affordable o Rental housing below 30% AMI – very little out there, huge demand for these units o Utilities are also key cost. $300-$400/year on utilities when renting. • Capacity is lacking on affordable housing developer side o Affordable builders left market after recession and didn’t come back • Development challenges: o Cheaper to build on fringes of city where there’s more land, but also have to meet NCHFA site requirements. City Council wants access to transit, but City won’t bring busses to our fringe locations o Community backlash against multifamily no matter where it is located o Construction costs are going up o Nonprofit developers further hampered by procurement processes for getting subs o Local subs not certified as MBE, so don’t get credit for using them o City processes – expensive to go through, time consuming – took 10 months to do underwriting for Muirs Landing • Need for more transparency around Nussbaum Fund, we don’t know where money goes • Habitat is buying land in poor neighborhoods because gap is smaller than if they build on more expensive lots in better neighborhoods • Scattered site development: neighborhoods are concerned about gentrification o Old Asheboro – they don’t want us to sell homes to people outside of the community – concern that we’re gentrifying neighborhood • Housing Our Community: we don’t need another nonprofit, we need wrap around support services – can’t just deliver housing and not address root causes • Perception that City spends too much money on code compliance and enforcement

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