As Winston-Salem faces need for more affordable housing, a look at what that term means

Across North Carolina municipalities are grappling with a need for more affordable housing. The shortage has become more pronounced in some areas since the pandemic, leaving many to compete for a shrinking resource. And as new homes are built in Winston-Salem to address this, some question if they're truly attainable.

But what affordable housing means, and what it should look like may vary, depending on who you ask.

'The day that we turned the corner'

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April, Winston-Salem residents and city officials gathered to tout the opening of Brown School Lofts. The development is the first phase of an initiative that looks to bring more than 400 new, mixed-income units to the Cleveland Avenue neighborhood.

Mayor Allen Joines is one of many at the ceremony to highlight the complex's opening as a step in the right direction for the city.

"10 years from now, 15 years from now, we may look back on this day, and say, you know, that was the day that we turned the corner in making affordable housing really work here in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County," he says.

Some Brown School Lofts apartments are set at what's considered an affordable rate with residents of the community given first right of refusal. Other units are at market rate with a listing for a one-bedroom on its site showing a price of around $1,300.

It's the kind of mixed-income community that housing officials say will avoid concentrating poverty in one area and help stop stigmatization.

But to Cynthia Herson, who lives just minutes away, it was another location she said would be unavailable for many like her.

"The rent over there is $1,000 and some dollars for one bedroom in this community, where you don't even make $15 an hour — how can you afford that?" she questioned.

She lives on Willie Davis Drive, in a city-owned property in east Winston-Salem. The complex entered headlines when residents voiced fears that repairs at the location could push them out.

At 58 years old, Herson said this is the first time in her life she's experienced rent at a comfortable level. She's on limited income and pays around $400 a month.

"This allowed me the flexibility to be able to pay my rent, pay my utilities and all my necessities and still have something left over for me to enjoy life, to live," she said.

A limited resource

Herson's concern for the possibility of having to pay for a more expensive unit if she has to leave isn't entirely unfounded.

A recent report by the North Carolina Housing Coalition found that 28% of households in the state are cost-burdened, with Forsyth County showing similar numbers. It shows the need for affordable housing, but what that looks like often depends on an individual's finances, leaving those with different income levels to compete for a limited resource.

The federal government defines the term as a location that generally doesn't cost more than 30% of a household's gross income.

North Carolina Housing Coalition Executive Director Stephanie Watkins-Cruz said people who pay more than that are considered to be cost-burdened.

"So it's really just important, I think, to know that affordable housing at a fundamental level, looks like housing that someone can afford, without, you know, burdening other areas of their life," Watkins-Cruz said. "And it also means that it needs to be different types."

She said that's why it will take a diverse and creative range of approaches to address the dire need seen across the state. This could include housing trust funds, rental assistance programs and local or state policies that will better support building and sustaining these units.

"When I like to talk to folks about that word 'affordable housing,' I like to first remind them that we're talking about a basic need," Watkins-Cruz said. "And at the same time, the cost of living across our state and all of our communities has been increasing for years."

The market

When people search for someone to respond to this need at the local level, they often turn to their public housing system — but it's facing its own hurdles. That's according to Housing Authority of Winston-Salem Executive Director Kevin Cheshire.

"We are really competing with the rest of the market for land, for materials, for labor, and with other private developers even within the affordable housing industry, and so we don't necessarily have any way to do that more quickly, more efficiently or more easily than the market," Cheshire said.

That challenge is seen in the city's Choice Neighborhood Initiative, which sets out to revitalize the Cleveland Avenue community.

Brown School Lofts' opening marked the completion of the first of five phases in the project. However, despite federal funding, the initiative faces a multimillion-dollar budget gap for its second phase as building costs have grown since the pandemic.

Cheshire said another challenge is that the discussion on affordable housing isn't necessarily limited to particular income groups. And increasing demand is pushing people to consider places they may not have before.

"There's a housing spectrum, and as housing becomes in shorter and shorter supply, folks at higher income levels are now taking a more, higher proportion of housing that is organically affordable to folks at lower income levels," Cheshire said.

That crunch is felt by people like Carol Boykins, another Willie Davis Drive resident. She said over the past year she's been searching for a new home as she prepares to move her daughter in, but has faced insurmountable costs.

"Everything I look at, say from like for two bedrooms, there's $1,015, $1,000 and this and $1,000 and that, it's ridiculous," Boykins said. "And I don't know how they think people are supposed to make it for a rent on the income that we get."

Boykins, at 70, is on a fixed income similar to other residents where she lives.

"All I want to do is just find something that's reasonable, that we can afford, and I'll be just fine," she said.

Facing a shortage

A 2018 housing study in Winston-Salem found the city faced a shortage of 16,000 affordable homes.

City Councilmember Jeff MacIntosh said those numbers are likely higher since the pandemic. MacIntosh has been an elected official for 11 years and has experience in the real estate world dating back to the 1980s.

He said he firmly believes housing has to be built across the price spectrum to begin addressing this shortage.

"If we build luxury housing, middle-price housing, workforce housing, low-income housing, it takes away that gap that we're seeing, that 16,000 unit shortfall. In fact, I know it's a larger shortfall than that," MacIntosh said.

He said in the meantime the city has modified its zoning codes to make it easier to build multi-family homes and is backing a housing trust fund — a program that helps produce and preserve affordable units.

He feels the city is best suited for a supportive role — like offering incentives or leveraging the land it owns — instead of being landlords.

"There's a skillset involved that we just don't possess as a city," he said. "And when I look around, and I read an awful lot on the subject, there are not very many cities that do possess that."

Back at Willie Davis Drive, Herson makes a copy of her lease agreement as she shares fears of having to move out. She's become a vocal leader for her community and its plight in the last few years.

But just a short walk from where she lives, a sign pitches a redevelopment project that would offer homes starting at around $200,000.

Incentives will be offered to assist those getting into the housing market to allay gentrification concerns. The homes will be for people making up to 80% of the area median income. And with a dearth of affordable houses in the city for those most in need, this could signal relief.

But for those who aren't in a position to even contemplate purchasing a home, it does little to ease concerns.

Herson said that's why she's going to continue to speak out to see that where she lives remains affordable.

"It's an important conversation because of the fact that everybody should have stability," she said. "Everybody should have a house."