Guilford County discusses affordable housing challenges

GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The cost of housing is rising nationally, including here in the Triad, and it’s making it harder for people to find affordable places to live.

For instance, a person in High Point would need to make at least $22 an hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment, and that’s 200 percent above minimum wage.

At Thursday’s Commission on Housing retreat, leaders from all over Guilford County put their heads together to discuss the challenges of creating and maintaining affordable housing.

Let’s take a look at data from RentCafé.

In High Point, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,189 as of Nov. 2023.

In Greensboro, a one-bedroom averages $1,262.

Duke University expert Deborah Goldstein says one barrier to building affordable housing are people who oppose new development, sometimes called NIMBYs, which stands for “not in my back yard.”

“There is a lot of interest in doing more education of the public about the need for housing, to address NIMBYism, which I think is a big challenge across the state,” she said

What about houses?

“The average house listed in High Point right now is $247,000, and that is not affordable to the average family” said Thanena Wilson with the City of High Point.

A realtor.com search  on March 7 shows just 221 homes for sale under $300 ,000.

“We just don’t have developers or builders building developments or creating developments within that price range,” Wilson said.

Even people who secured housing they could afford are seeing steep rent increases. We stopped to chat with people at the Adams Farm shopping center, and one of them said their rent was going up $200 a month.

Paying $2,400 more in rent a year hits the wallet hard.

“It’s not just rent. It’s food. It’s everything. It’s anything you can name right now. Everything is going up,” he said.

In Greensboro, city officials say affordable housing is critical to support growth.

“Housing affordability is probably the most significant issue besides community safety that any of our communities are facing right now. It’s at levels that are greater than the recession of 2008,” said Michelle Kennedy with the City of Greensboro

Greensboro is looking at working with smaller developers, permanent supportive housing and using city-owned properties to meet the need, but building is not enough.

“We aren’t going to be able to build our way out of this issue. We can’t build units fast enough,” Kennedy said.

There are people who can’t afford a modest apartment or home, but those who can are often downsizing out of fear of an economic downturn.

“People aren’t moving up. They are shifting down,” Kennedy said.

Lumber and labor prices have gone up as well, creating a perfect storm of housing hurdles.

Experts hope commission meetings like the one on Thursday help the area work together to combine resources and find solutions.

“The more we work together, the better outcomes we will have in our communities,” Kennedy said.

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