To: Chapel Hill Mayor and Council and Town Manager
From: Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town (CHALT)
Re: Affordable Housing Bond
Date: October 1, 2018
Dear Mayor Hemminger, Town Council Members, Manager Jones
CHALT supports the 10M Bond Issue on the ballot for this fall. As we know, the bond orders do not specify how the funds raised via the bond issue should be spent.
Nonetheless, we believe it is critical that the town develop a strategy for using the bond funds wisely. It was a good start that the Town Council intends to give preference to projects that meet the following criteria:
- Rental housing serving households earning less than 60% AMI;
- Rental housing serving vulnerable populations;
- Housing that will remain affordable over the long-term;
- Housing located near public transit services;
- Housing projects that can leverage funding from other sources.
In addition, we strongly support including the following additional criteria:
- Projects that promote home ownership among low income/low wealth households;
- Housing projects located outside areas prone to flooding (e.g., outside the 100-year flood plain);
- Projects that integrate affordable units among market-rate housing.
Examples of projects that would satisfy these criteria and which Town Council members have discussed in recent months include:
- Housing for displaced trailer park residents
- Rehabilitate public housing
- Mixed-income housing project on Homestead Road
- Master Leasing program pilot in Glen Lenox
- Habitat for Humanity project on Sunrise Rd.
- Casa project on Merritt Mill Rd.
We anticipate that by making smart, strategic choices in how the Town spends public funds, and by insisting that private sector homebuilders also step up and do their part, the bond issue will help us begin to remedy the Town’s shortage of housing options for low- and moderate-income households.
Sincerely,
CHALT signers:
Charles Humble, Rudy Juliano, Julie McClintock, David Schwartz, Del Snow, Tom Henkel, Neva Whybark, Debbie Finn