Local Inclusionary Housing Programs and the Prospects for North Carolina

Many of the nation's rapidly growing communities are confronting an ironic paradox — the stronger the local economy, the more acute the shortage of affordable housing. This is certainly true of North Carolina's metropolitan areas. Generations of public investments in highways, schools, community facilities and services, universities, research, industrial recruitment, and hospitals have created a great deal of the value of urban/suburban land and generated tremendous wealth and rapid growth in this state's metropolitan areas. But every year, more of the people who keep these services and institutions operating cannot afford to live near their jobs. Moreover, in rapidly growing communities like the Triangle, powerful market incentives encourage builders to produce high-cost homes. The combination of regulatory, public investment, and market factors has resulted in a dramatically expanding affordability gap for households with low- and moderate incomes. What can local governments do to encourage the development of lower cost homes throughout these growing communities in North Carolina