housing
I opened the mailer and threw it away. The return address was “Planning Department, Town of Carrboro”. As a city planning student, I thought I would have been more intrigued. But the notice was for a zoning change in a neighborhood I knew nothing about, despite the fact I live just across the train tracks in a North Greensboro Street apartment.
I live with 7 housemates. When I tell that to people, sometimes their mouths go agape.
“Seven?!” they’ll wonder or say aloud in surprised disbelief.
“Yeah, seven, and I like it that way.”
Last week, Chapel Hill’s economic development officer, Dwight Bassett, presented some data on Chapel Hill’s housing market to a reasonably-sized crowd at Town Hall. Bassett’s presentation followed a brief talk from Robert Hickey of the National Housing Conference about what’s happening in housing trends around the country.
Like many of the other audience members, it was Bassett’s data that struck me the most. (During the Q&A following the presentations, all but one question was directed at Bassett rather than Hickey). The one number that really stood out: 3117%. That is, since 1990, the number of houses in Chapel Hill valued at over $500,000 has increased by 3117%.
Compare this to more affordable price ranges: For houses valued between $100,000-$149,000, the number of houses has increased by only 32%. For houses valued between $150,000-$199,999, there has only been a 107% increase in the number of houses.
Coldwell Banker is out with their annual home price comparisons, as reported by the Triangle Business Journal, and the news isn't so great for anyone living in Orange County concerned with affordability.
Chapel Hill ranks as the most expensive housing community in North Carolina. A typical four-bedroom, two-bathroom home will cost you an average of $401,765 here, compared with a state average of only $229,112. Hillsborough ranks 9th at $276,816.
For comparison, the average price for a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Durham is only $250,129. In Raleigh, it's $272,305.
The metric isn't perfect - looking only at relatively large houses - but the comparison still paints a pretty clear picture of what's happening in Orange County compared with the rest of the state.
We came to Orange County in the autumn of 1978. Though we lived in Durham for a few years, we moved back to Chapel Hill in the mid-80s and have called it home ever since. We made a choice to live in this community.
This year, I am proud to serve as the 2014 Chair of the Orange County Housing Authority, a relatively new community board appointed by the County Commissioners. We provide citizen oversight of the County’s Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly known as “Section 8.” Just under 600 families in this community are the direct beneficiaries of this rental subsidy, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program brings about $3.5 million into our community every year.
That support is vital for those families, but did you know that you benefit from it too? The effect on you and your family or your business may be indirect, but it’s right in front of you. Keeping housing affordable leads directly to spending money in the Orange County economy.
UNC students have launched a petition against the Town of Chapel Hill's housing ordinance prohibiting more than four unrelated people from living in the same house.
The petition is an initiative of outgoing student body president Christy Lambden. The Lambden Administration is circulating the following blurb to students concerning the petition:
As many of you know in the past year many students have been evicted from their homes for violating The Town of Chapel Hill’s Occupancy Ordinance. This Ordinance states that no more that four unrelated persons can co-inhabit the same single-dwelling residence. We in the Executive Branch of Student Government are asking for your support in signing our petition to The Town of Chapel Hill. We ask that you please circulate this to the members of your respective organizations. Stand with Student Government, fight for students and Don’t Shut the Door on Four.
http://bit.ly/M7O4sU
Also, if you have opinions or experiences with the Ordinance, please let us know at:
https://neighborland.com/ideas/chapel-hill-to-hear-people-s-experien.
Signing up is very easy and can be done through your Facebook account!
Thanks for your support,
The Lambden Administration
In the fall, there were reports about students being kicked out of their homes for violating the ordinance. This petition appears to be a response to those actions.
However, not all students are supportive of repealing the ordinance. A cursory glance at the Neighborland page emailed out (and seeing intense discussion on many of my friends' Facebook pages) indicates that this is a multidimensional issue that our community continues to struggle with, students fully included.
Yesterday at noon, Chapel Hill's Economic Development Officer
Dwight Bassett provided a brief, one-hour presentation outlining some
key facts and developments concerning retail, housing, and office space
in Chapel Hill. The full presentation can be viewed here.
I attended and live-tweeted the meeting. You can see the play-by-play below.
The Town of Chapel Hill Special Topics sessions return to the
community with a presentation on student housing at noon Wednesday, Aug.
15, in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
The Special Topics series began during the Chapel Hill 2020
comprehensive planning process as a way to share information with
interested residents who want to know more about issues, trends and
studies that affect the future. For past topics, see
http://bit.ly/zi4gLo.
Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and co-presenters Christopher Payne,
associate vice chancellor for student affairs, and Larry Hicks, director
of housing and residential education, will provide an overview of the
current on-campus student housing options provided by the University and
plans for future renovation and construction.
They will share information about campus housing and recent student
surveys for the factors that influence where students live as well as
the resources available to students who move off campus. They will also
discuss the University’s business model for campus housing including
factors such as market rates, safety and security and retention.
The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.
Crisp is a 1989 graduate of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and
a 1992 graduate of the UNC School of Law. He began his career at UNC
after his graduation in 1992 working as the school’s first full-time
assistant dean for student affairs and the first associate dean for
student services. He moved to Student Affairs as the assistant vice
chancellor in 2005.
Payne has served in a variety of higher education positions including
assistant director of residence life at the University of Nebraska at
Kearney, director of operations for the department of residence at the
University of Denver and director of housing and residential education
at UNC.
Hicks previously served as associate director of administrative services in the department of housing and residential education.
The public event will be aired live on Chapel Hill Government TV-18 and streamed on the Town of Chapel Hill website at www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1850. For more information about the special topic series, contact Catherine Lazorko at [email protected] or 919-969-5055. For more information about the presenters, contact Susan Hudson at [email protected] or 919-962-8415.
Date:
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall
The following announcement was released today by Orange County:
Fair Housing Workshop
ORANGE COUNTY, NC – A workshop on fair housing will be held on Thursday, June 28, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Orange County Department of Social Services, Hillsborough Commons, 113 Mayo Street in Hillsborough.
The free seminar “Fair Housing: Know Your Rights” is presented by Fair Housing Project, Legal Aid of NC, Orange County Human Relations Commission, N. C. Justice Center and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Advanced registration is preferred. Contact Pam Reynolds by email ([email protected]) or call 919-245-2490 at Orange County Housing, Human Rights and Community Development Department.
Date:
Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location:
Orange County Department of Social Services, Hillsborough Commons, 113 Mayo Street, Hillsborough
Presentation by Dwight Bassett, Chapel Hill's Director of Economic Development
Date:
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
Council Chamber, Town Hall
It's being reported that school overcrowding "threatens" a moratorium on construction of new homes in Chapel Hill and/or Orange County. Meanwhile, the number of "for sale" signs for existing homes in our neighborhoods are proliferating, as old listings languish and new listings appear.
I was unable to find (after an admittedly quick search) current stats for the number of houses on sale in the various school districts or for the average time a house sits on the market -- probably not numbers that local realtors consider very happy. (Did find reference to an approx. 9% vacancy rate for Chapel Hill, but not certain what that includes -- commercial? residential? both?)
However, it doesn't take a lot of scrutiny to know that there are an unprecedented number of existing houses for sale -- far more than are likely to be built new in the next year, I'd bet. And in the likely event that every one of those houses -- or even half of them -- were sold to families with children by September, the schools would have a difficult time accommodating them.
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