Winston-Salem officials consider creating new policy on subsidizing housing for developers

Winston-Salem officials are looking to develop a new policy to streamline its process for selling property and subsidizing housing for developers.

A Winston-Salem City Council committee recently approved a request from Moravian Church in America, Southern Province to purchase four city-owned lots for $1 each in the Southwest Ward. The church also requested $160,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

City staff reduced the initial ask for 19 lots citing the organization's lack of experience as developers.

Councilmember Robert Clark, who abstained from voting, said at the meeting there should be a policy for how the city chooses to subsidize a project, and that information was needed on how previous housing developments were done.

"We've got to help people build them, not build them ourselves," he said. "And that's why I want a better understanding of how much we're committing per project."

Mayor Pro Tem D.D. Adams, who voted to move forward, said the city should now put a pause on these types of requests until a more formal process is set.

"We need procedures, we need organization and we need examples in a matrix or however we put it together, that this council, this council or the new council in a few months, can look and see how we transact housing business," Adams said.

City staff is expected to come back with a policy proposal sometime in the fall.