Yesterday, the Wake County Board of Commissioners hosted a three hour work session devoted entirely to the issue of affordable housing. As Commissioner Jessica Holmes shared, this is unprecedented in the history of Wake County.
We learned that 36,220 families in Wake County earn less than 30% of the area median income (AMI) of $75,000 for a family of four. An additional 34,500 families earn between 30-50% of the AMI. Affordability is defined as affordable for incomes at 80% of AMI or less and housing costs not to exceed 30% of a family’s income. So as you, see the demand and need for affordable housing far exceeds the current supply.
Presentations were made by staff from Wake County, City of Raleigh, Town of Cary, Raleigh Housing Authority, Housing Authority of the County of Wake, and the North C arolina Housing Finance Agency. Community perspectives were shared by DHIC, Passage Home, Alliance Behavioral Health, and Habitat Wake.
This is a great first step toward garnering more resources for the creation and preservation of affordable housing in our county. Stay tuned for future developments.