Stein celebrates ongoing Helene recovery, hopes for increased housing supply
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Stein celebrated Western North Carolina’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene.
- DEQ awarded WNC $1 billion, targeting improvements to water and septic systems.
- The state built nearly 90 homes through Renew NC and has more than 450 in the works.
Good morning. I’m Ronni Butts, a summer politics intern, here with today’s Under the Dome newsletter that focuses on Gov. Josh Stein.
Stein has been traveling across Western North Carolina this past week celebrating the region’s ongoing recovery from Helene, highlighting restored housing and water systems.
On Wednesday, Stein welcomed a woman into a new home in Asheville that was built through the state’s Renew NC’s Single-Family Housing Program. Nearly 90 homes have been built through the program, with more than 450 more in the works.
The region is also slated to see improvements to its wastewater and drinking water projects through $44 million awarded by the State Water Infrastructure Authority.
“Our water intake ... was completely washed away,” Russell Fox, mayor of Burnsville, said at a news conference on Friday. “The town of Burnsville’s biggest worry right now is water intake.”
The Department of Environmental Quality has now awarded $1 billion to the region, the governor announced on Friday. DEQ Secretary D. Reid Wilson said that $906 million is for wastewater, drinking water and septic system repairs. The systems will also be reinforced to make them more resilient to future natural disasters.
Other funds will go towards various other projects like grids for emergency power, removing stream debris and expanding recycling centers.
“These efforts will help us to limit damage due to natural disasters and get life back to normal more quickly in the future,” Stein said.
The region is set to get more than $700 million in recovery funds from the state budget that the General Assembly passed and Stein signed this month.
Stein has continued to advocate for increased Helene funding in Congress, including on a trip last month to Capitol Hill to request $10 billion.
“The supplemental package for the Iran war is in front of Congress right now, and it must include Helene funding,” Stein said on Friday. “We need the government not to forget Western North Carolina, and I will do everything in my power to make sure they do not.”
A plan for more budget-friendly housing
Stein signed a bill this month that would eliminate mandatory minimum off-street parking space requirements when developers construct a building, with exceptions for the state’s coastal region. This includes residential buildings, where Stein said parking mandates add to the state’s already rising housing costs.
“Looking ahead to 2029, our state is projected to be more than 750,000 homes short of our housing needs,” Stein said at a bill signing event. “We need to remove unnecessary and expensive barriers like burdensome parking lot requirements that lead to higher housing costs.”
Stein said that the parking requirements are “often excessive” and can increase rent by $200 to $300.
He called this bill a “solid start” towards increasing the state’s housing supply and affordability, but said that he’s talked with lawmakers on ways to make more improvements.
Among his housing goals during his term: building homes in commercial zones and in the form of accessory dwelling units.
“It’s not going to interfere with industry, it’s not going to interfere with the commercial uses. In fact, (it) gets people closer to where they work, and it allows for a lot more units to be built more quickly,” Stein told The News & Observer after the bill signing.
Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, are homes that are on the same lot as another primary home. These can be units like guest houses, basements and garages.
Another bill, which contains various changes to regulatory policies across the state, includes a provision that would require local governments to allow the development of ADUs for single-family detached homes in areas zoned for residential use.
Sen. Steve Jarvis, a Republican representing Davidson and Davie counties, said some local governments have expressed concerns about allowing ADUs in commercial zones. Others on the coast have warned that many coastal properties may not have enough space for the additional dwellings and residents would likely face a parking shortage.
Jarvis said that these concerns will likely be addressed in a new version of Senate Bill 445.
“We’ve got to build more homes and strengthen our housing workforce, so that people can both find and afford homes in the communities where they work and want to live,” Stein said.
Thanks for reading. Reach me at ronni.butts@newsobserver.com or our entire politics team at dome@newsobserver.com.
- Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up here.
- Listen to the latest episode of our Under the Dome podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.
- And learn more about issues facing North Carolina colleges and universities by subscribing to Higher Stakes, a weekly higher education newsletter from reporter Jane Winik Sartwell.
