Raleigh buys land for affordable housing along future, bus rapid transit line
Raleigh closed Thursday on a tract of land it hopes to preserve for affordable housing along one of the city’s major thoroughfares.
The city bought a portion of Duplex Village, at 1920 New Bern Ave., paying $3.7 million for nearly 4 acres along the future bus-rapid-transit route planned for New Bern Avenue.
“Because the New Bern Avenue corridor is largely fully developed, there are relatively few opportunities for significant affordable multi-family projects,” according to a city news release. “One of the few opportunity sites is a 9.46-acre low density rental development known as Duplex Village which is comprised of 66 duplex units built in 1949.”
Buying land along transit corridors was one of the goals of the city’s $80 million affordable housing bond that voters approved in 2020.
“We want to make sure that we have opportunities for low- and moderate-income folks to be able to benefit from the bus-rapid-transit investment,” said Larry Jarvis, director of Raleigh’s Housing and Neighborhoods Department. “So that’s important we step up to the plate to do that.”
Raleigh agreed to purchase the eastern portion of the property, which has 24 duplex units. Austin-based Artesia Real Estate Investments will retain the western part of the property.
“Artesia and the city have discussed options for preserving long-term affordable housing opportunities on the site, while at the same time allowing market forces to respond to the BRT proximity,” according to the news release.
City will help move existing tenants
Half of the units in the eastern part of the property are vacant, and the city will “work with current tenants in good standing to transition them into other housing options,” according to the news release.
Raleigh will initiate a rezoning for apartments and seek a developer to apply for low-income housing tax credits or to use money from the affordable housing bond for the project.
“Using the tax credit mechanism, the desired objective is to create roughly twice the number of affordable units on the eastern tract that have historically existed on the eastern and western tracts combined,” the news release said.
The project site is next to a former church that nonprofit developer DHIC and The Presbyterian Homes Inc. plan to turn into 150 apartments for low-income seniors.
1 in 4 Wake families ‘cost burdened’
The N.C. Housing Coalition estimates nearly 1 in 4 Wake County households, including 41% of renters, are “cost burdened,” meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities.
A family in Wake County would need to earn $41,040 to afford a modest-two bedroom apartment renting for $1,026 per month, the coalition states. But the average renter in the county can only afford $856 per month, according to the coalition website.
The rent at the duplexes ranges from $625 per month to $900 per month — about 50% of the area median income, Jarvis said. If the city uses tax credits for the project, the new residents would be under 60% of the AMI, he said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 6:21 PM.
