WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — The need for affordable housing has grown around the country, and city leaders in Greensboro and Winston-Salem are pushing forward their ideas that could address the big time problem in real time.
Greensboro spent $200,000 in mortgage assistance for 119 households in 2021.
A thousand affordable homes have been added over the past two years–a track that the city hopes to stay with.
During a marathon city council meeting that focused on affordable housing on Monday, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines asked for the city to develop 750 affordable housing units each year for the next several years with the ground to be broken on the first 750 at the end of 2022.
“I plan to have a spreadsheet, and if we don’t meet that goal, I want to know why,” Mayor Joines said of the goal.
The goal was set during the three-hour council meeting where it was revealed that 83% of Winston-Salem citizens can’t afford their own homes. That’s roughly 15,000 affordable housing units.
Affordable housing is spending more than 30% of a person’s income on their home or housing situation.
The idea of affordable housing has changed during the pandemic, with there being more individuals who fall below the Area Median Income of $68,900.
A study found that:
- 64% of police officers make below that threshold
- 43% of healthcare workers
“May be making a decent wage, but because of the housing and cost of living, it puts them in an affordable housing category,” Mayor Joines said.
In Greensboro, the situation is the same.
Director of Neighborhood Development for Greensboro Michelle Kennedy explained that the numbers are a sign of the times.
“A tremendous amount of the service sector and the care sector the wages of those career paths need affordable housing, and they are folks we desperately need to keep community-run and operated and are essential to us,” Kennedy said.
For the city of Winston-Salem, the mission is to integrate multi-income level housing opportunities.
For example, the apartment development near the corner of Fourth Street and Spruce Street will have 20% affordable housing opportunities due to an investment the city made in the project.
There are also ideas to develop on a handful of lots owned by the city in various parts of Winston-Salem.
“We certainly don’t want to just cluster low-income housing in one particular area but to integrate it into the whole city,” Mayor Joines said.
There are also plans to add incentives for developers to take on these projects.
Among them are: “We can make a second mortgage loan into that project and make the developer to start paying that back until the first mortgage is paid off.”
Winston-Salem is using $30 million to get the ball rolling on the new affordable housing projects.