“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work, reporting or approval of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to [email protected].
Life Can Be More Affordable
A perspective from Theodore Nollert
Our homes are the foundations of our lives. They are the places where we start and end our days, raise our families, rest, host friends, recuperate, and relax. Everyone deserves a dignified, affordable home.
But for too many North Carolinians, such homes are out of reach. And unless we make bold changes, more and more of us will find dignified, affordable homes impossible to come by, whether renting or buying.
Nearly 40% of North Carolinians live in unaffordable homes. Many live far away from their jobs because they don’t make enough money to live where they work. They face these challenges because our state and municipal governments have failed them. Our towns and cities have, for decades, resisted new housing and redevelopment instead of embracing it. Our legislature is even worse: it has refused to legalize rent stabilization and to make smart, high-reward investments in subsidies for workforce housing, affordable retirement homes, and safe, supportive housing for the chronically ill, the disabled, and the temporarily homeless.
The second biggest cost for most households is transportation, and on that, the legislature is no better: Republicans passed a law making it illegal for the state to fund stand-alone bike and pedestrian projects. Dropping corporate taxes to zero and spending hundreds of millions on private school vouchers is apparently no problem, but funding sidewalks, greenways, and buses is.
It’s time for all that to change. Cities and towns must come together with the legislature to reverse North Carolina’s slide into unaffordability. By eliminating restrictions on supply, creating a rent stabilization mechanism, and subsidizing true workforce housing, our state and local governments can make life more affordable for everyone.
What that looks like for Chapel Hill: embrace the economic vitality and increased cultural activity that come with more housing and more neighbors. I’m so proud of the urgency residents here feel about affordable housing. Building more housing makes our town better because it’s people who make this town great.
As Chapel Hill does its part by welcoming more housing, the state must also step up to the plate and allow rent stabilization and increase workforce housing subsidies. A billion dollar revolving loan fund for affordable housing would supercharge the state economy and empower hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians to step out of poverty and into the middle class.
Pair a big move like that with great public transit and public parks, and North Carolina can become one of the top states for quality of life in the country.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
Viewpoints: Life Can Be More Affordable Chapelboro.com.
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