Brunswick County: Housing Needs Assessment

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Brunswick County Housing Needs Assessment

• Prof. William M. Rohe
• Dr. Spencer M. Cowan
• The Center for Urban and Regional Studies
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Commissioned by
• The North Carolina Association of Community
  Development Corporations

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Our Charge

• Assess the need for workforce housing in
  Brunswick County
• Prepare an inventory of tools and strategies to
  address the need for workforce housing
• Recommend strategies to expand the supply of
  workforce housing

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Our Method

• Data analysis
• US Census Bureau, NC Assoc of Realtors, NC
  Employment Security Commission, NC State
  Demographer
• Key informant interviews
• public-, private-, and non-profit-sector leaders
• Community meeting
• Program research

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Jobs and Wages
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Summary of Interviews

• The perceived need for more workforce housing is
  widespread
• Public employees, construction workers, and
  restaurant workers were said to have the greatest
  need
• Difficulty in recruiting and retaining employees
  was identified as the major impact of the
  workforce housing shortage
• Land, construction and infrastructure costs, lack
  of developer interest, and the low wage levels
  were identified as the major barriers

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Strategies for Expanding Workforce Housing

• Regulatory incentives and mandates
• Financial incentives
• local
• non-local
• Organizational infrastructure development

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Regulatory Incentives and Mandates

• Zone more land for small lot and multi-family
  development
• Offer expedited permitting, reduced
  infrastructure standards, fee waivers
• Offer density bonuses
• Adopt inclusionary zoning

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Financial Incentives - Local

• General tax revenues
• General obligation bonds
• Real estate transfer taxes
• Land donation
• Employer-assisted housing

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Financial Incentives Non-local

• N. C. Housing Finance Agency programs
• N. C. Division of Community Assistance
• Federal Home Loan Bank
• U. S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing
  Service

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Organizational Development

• Formalize a workforce housing coalition
• Expand the capacity of the non-profit housing
  development sector
• Expand county and municipal government capacity
  to promote and preserve workforce housing
• Expand housing and credit counseling services

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Summary of Need

• Between 2000 and 2005
• The number of households that reported paying
  more than 50 percent of income for housing
  increased from 2,332 to 5,149
• Household income increased by 0.6 percent per
  year while housing values increased by 7.9
  percent and rents increased by 5.3 percent per
  year
• In 2005
• Almost 4,000 households with income between
  20,000 and 50,000 reported paying more than 30
  percent of income for housing

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Summary of Recommendations

• County and municipal officials should
• increase land zoned for small lot and
  multi-family development
• consider adopting inclusionary zoning
• capitalize a workforce housing trust fund with
  local resources
• expand staff capacity
• consider making land available

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Summary of Recommendations

• Major employers should
• develop employer-assisted housing programs
• participate in a workforce housing coalition
• Local financial institutions should
• expand their marketing of workforce home loan
  products
• Non-profit housing organizations should
• expand capacity to develop new workforce housing
• participate in a workforce housing coalition
• expand housing counseling and credit counseling
  programs