Greensboro city officials look to remedy affordable housing 'crisis'

In January, the city of Greensboro launched a $21 million loan fund to incentivize developers to build more affordable housing. And with more than 40,000 cost-burdened households — those paying more than a third of their income on a place to live — the need for more options is great. 

Housing & Neighborhood Development Director Michelle Kennedy says affordability is at a crisis point across the country for lots of reasons: Interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage are at roughly 6.5% frustrating would-be buyers, and inflationary pressures are forcing more people to stay put rather than moving into new, slightly larger homes, and in so doing, they are not freeing up the most affordable units. In 2023, the average sale price for townhouse and condo properties in Greensboro went up by nearly 20%. In the fourth quarter of last year the average single property sales price was more than $346,000.

Kennedy says those who are particularly impacted are low-income families and the elderly.

"What we’re seeing happening at a large scale is property owners are adjusting those rental rates to market rate rentals now that are sometimes double or triple what that individual may have been paying for the last 15 or 20 years," says Kennedy. "So, we’re seeing ourselves in this moment where older folks on fixed incomes really have very little housing options."

Kennedy says it’s time to look at new types of development, including models that haven’t been considered before, like co-housing options for seniors and micro-housing — such as tiny homes — on city-owned lots. She adds that development plans are already underway for a community land trust in Greensboro to relieve pricing pressures using a shared equity model.