The Greensboro City Council often discusses the need to rehabilitate dilapidated housing and provide more low income and working class housing in the city.
In October 2016 the voters of Greensboro went to the polls and voted in favor of $126 million in bonds including $25 million in housing bonds. It would appear that in Greensboro, much could be accomplished to rehabilitate housing and provide new affordable housing with $25 million. The goal is to build or renovate 1,007 units with the bond money.
But as of April 2019, not much of that $25 million has been spent and even less obligated to spend on projects which means the project is moving along but the money hasn’t actually been spent.
So two and a half years after the voters of Greensboro agreed with the City Council that there was a need to rehabilitate the current housing stock and provide more affordable housing, not much progress has been made but it’s not because of a lack of money. Only $2.9 million of the $25 million has been spent and another $1 million is obligated for projects. If you eliminate the private sector apartment builders from the mix where $1.5 million was spent and $500,000 obligated you are left with less than $2 million spent or obligated on everything else.
City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter said, “We have all these bonds but we don’t have the staff or the process in place to fully implement the programs.”
Abuzuaiter said that even once the programs were established the city had to find applicants and have them vetted to ascertain their eligibility. She said that even having the money there was no easy fix to housing issues.
What seems amazing is not that the bulk of the money has not been spent but that most of the projects have not reached the point where any money has even been obligated.
Here is a list of projects from the “City of Greensboro 2016 Bond Tracker” which was updated March 31, 2019.
Code Compliance Repair Initiative Revolving loan fund
Lien assessment program to repair properties under Code Compliance Enforcement.
Budget $3 million
Spent $0
Obligated $0
Remaining $3 million
East Greensboro Housing Development Fund- Revolving Loan Fund
Loans for new construction or rehabilitation of rental units in East Greensboro.
Budget $4 million
Spent $159,800
Obligated $540,200
Remaining $3.3 million
Handicapped Accessibility Improvements
Grants for homeowners and rental property owners for handicapped accessibility.
Budget $1 million
Spent $0
Obligated $0
Remaining $1 million
Supportive Housing Units for Homeless/Disabled Veterans
Loans for development of supportive housing for special needs, including chronically homeless/disabled/veterans.
Budget $2 million
Spent $0
Obligated $0
Remaining $2 million
Nonprofit Homebuyer Lending –Revolving Loan Fund
Funds for non-profit homebuyer loans to low and very low income households
Budget $1 million
Spent $0
Obligated $0
Remaining $1 million
Emergency Repair Programs
Grants for emergency home repairs to assist low income homeowners with heating systems, lead-based paint, health hazards or emergency housing repair needs.
Budget $1.5 million
Spent $124,946
Obligated $54
Funds Remaining $1,375,000
Multifamily Affordable Housing Development
Loans for developers to build or rehabilitate affordable rental units.
Printworks Lofts- 217 units- Completion Fall 2020
Ryan Ridge- 60 units- Completion Fall 2019
Elmsley Trail- 60 units- Completion Summer 2020
Budget $3 million
Spent $1,547,667
Obligated $532,333
Remaining $920,000
Homeowner Rehabilitation
Loans for rehabilitation of homeowner occupied units.
Budget $1.5 million
Spent $0
Obligated $0
Remaining $1.5 million
Workforce Housing Initiative
Primarily home ownership programs for working class households. (Acquisition, rehabilitation, and energy efficiency)
Budget $8 million
Spent $1,117,931
Obligated $0
Remaining $6,882,069
