Carrboro board worried about the cost of housing

Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton and several members of the Board of Aldermen are concerned the town is not doing enough to support low-income housing.

“We have a lot of people who are hurting at a lot lower income levels than we’re currently reaching,” Chilton said at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

“Our current system doesn’t ever encourage anybody to create affordable rental housing for people who live on social security/disability income,” he said.

Chilton also said he was concerned about housing for people who live on minimum wage or 20 percent of the median income.

The comments came during a discussion of the affordable housing provisions in the land use ordinance.  In that ordinance, the town has a goal that at least 15 percent of units in new residential developments should be affordable.

Those affordable units cater to any family with a gross income of up to 80 percent of the median area family income.  The ordinance assumes a family can spend 30 percent of its gross annual income on housing.

The ordinance allows developers who include affordable housing units to increase the density of a project up to a maximum of 150 percent of the density otherwise allowed. For example, the maximum density of a proposed apartment would increase by two dwelling units for every affordable housing unit, according to section 15-182.4 of the ordinance.

But the ordinance does not have a sliding scale of benefits to reward developers who cater to very low income residents

“Our system, as it’s currently constituted, it treats all affordable housing units the same,” Chilton said.”

“It says that creating an almost free apartment through the CASA program for people who are transitioning out of homeless shelters, that that is an affordable unit that is the same as one that’s priced for someone who makes 80 percent of area income.”

He said he would like to see more developers bring proposals to build rental units for those with lower incomes.

“They would deserve more credit… for having created such a unit,” he said.

Alderman Jacquie Gist thanked Chilton for mentioning low-income workers.  

“We’re doing great at reaching graduate students and not that great at reaching truly, truly poor people and we got to turn that around,” she said.

“The Orange County partnership on homelessness is slowly working on that, but I’m tired of putting money towards grad students,” she said.

Alderman Joal Hall Broun said she was also concerned about residents who make moderate salaries. She specifically mentioned police officers, firefighters and school teachers.

“We aren’t producing enough housing for them at all,” she said. “I think we need to look at that zone just a little bigger.”

Chilton said the median income in the area was around $60,000, but that a family of four could still struggle under that income.

“At a hundred percent of area median, you’re really stuck,” he said. “You don’t qualify for any subsidy; you don’t qualify for any help.”

Alderman Sammy Slade also thought the issue deserved attention. During the campaign last year, Slade said he had friends who had to leave Carrboro because owning or renting property in the town was too expensive.

“There’s also a way of seeing how we compare to other places and how we are a place that doesn’t allow for people…with more means to be in this community,” he said.

Alderman Dan Coleman suggested Carrboro explore basing its own policy on Chapel Hill’s work. The Board voted to seek more information about Chapel Hill’s inclusionary zoning policy and bring the matter up again at another meeting.

The Chapel Hill Town Council established the Inclusionary Zoning Task Force in 2005, in part to look into the need for an inclusionary zoning ordinance. The council also asked the task force to evaluate the housing market and the need for additional affordable housing.