Bill > S446

Introduced Session

AN ACT TO EXPAND WORKFORCE HOUSING BY PROVIDING CURRENT AND ONGOING FUNDING FOR THE HOUSING TRUST FUND. Whereas, the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund was created by the General Assembly in 1987 and is administered by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency; and Whereas, the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund is North Carolina's most flexible resource for the State's growing and complex affordable housing needs. The Fund leverages private funding to create a variety of housing solutions, including home ownership, rentals, supportive housing, new construction, rehabilitation, and emergency repairs; and Whereas, housing is not only an integral part of a family's budget but is also integral to the economy of the State. Ensuring that all North Carolinians have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing is a sound financial investment in North Carolina's future; and Whereas, in 2005, bipartisan leadership filed Senate Bill 330 to fund the Housing Trust Fund at $50 million. Senate Bill 330 addressed the "shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary…housing available at affordable prices" and the importance of affordable housing to economic development "because businesses will not locate in communities where workers cannot live"; and Whereas, in Governor Pat McCrory's budget for the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium, former Budget Director Lee Harris Roberts wrote that "the NC Housing Finance Agency represents one of the greatest returns on investment of any State money spent"; and Whereas, North Carolina's investment in the Housing Trust Fund has decreased nearly 68% over the last 10 years—from $21 million in the 2007 fiscal year to a low-water mark of $6.8 million in the 2015 fiscal year; and Whereas, over 815,000 North Carolinians do not have access to affordable housing, with over 319,000 North Carolinians in disaster areas from Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence. In addition, 930,000 citizens are cost-burdened with their housing—those households spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs and utilities being cost-burdened, and those spending more than half of their income on housing costs being severely cost-burdened; and Whereas, there is only one unit of housing for every eight North Carolinians in need of affordable housing; and Whereas, the current fund balance of the Housing Trust Fund is approximately $6 million, which is less than the originally established fund balance of $50 million. For every $1 million that the Housing Trust Fund spends: 108 households are assisted; $5,169,000 in affordable housing real estate value is generated; 110 jobs are supported; and $455,000 in State and local revenue is generated; and Whereas, this act would enact a one-time allocation to recapitalize the Housing Trust Fund and would provide recurring revenue sources to ensure a sustainable Fund that can be used to address the critical shortage of affordable housing in North Carolina; Now, therefore,

AI Summary

Lisa Grafstein (D)*,  Michael Garrett (D),  Julie Mayfield (D),  Mujtaba Mohammed (D),  Natalie Murdock (D),  Joyce Waddell (D), 

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate (on 03/25/2025)

Official Document