News

Two affordable housing projects proposed in city

A Raleigh developer has proposed a 72-unit affordable apartment project on an 8-acre tract on Signal Hill Road across from Hyder Street.

By Bill Moss, Published: January 16, 2015

A construction manager for the Housing Assistance Corp. assured residents of North Main Street that the agency's proposed 80-unit development of homes and apartments would be well-managed and well maintained.

In the first public airing of a proposed $9 million development on North Main Street across from Yon Hill Road, HAC executives and an engineer also tried to assure neighbors that it would address traffic safety along with the NCDOT. After the planning review of the HAC proposal, a second developer presented plans for another affordable housing development — a 72-unit project seven-tenths of a mile away on Signal Hill Road.
During the neighborhood compatibility meeting, the first of three public hearings on the HAC's application for a special-use permit, a handful of neighboring homeowners raised objections about additional traffic and asked questions about property maintenance and appearance.
The housing agency's Oklawaha Village development would use tax credits to entice a developer to build a 66-unit complex of affordably priced apartment rentals. The 18 homes planned for the development would be built with assistance of the homeowners, who are carefully vetted and must help in their home's construction, HAC officials said.

Signal Ridge apartments

If it's approved, Oklawaha Village may not be the only new development of affordable apartments. After the city Planning Department closed the hearing on the HAC application, a Raleigh developer presented plans for a 72-unit affordable apartment complex on Signal Hill Road.
Project manager Tom Ulrich told the planning staff that Signal Ridge Apartments would also be financed through federal and state tax credits that require developers to rent the apartments to eligible tenants at an affordable rate.
"We build them, we own them and we manage them," he said. "We don't sell them. We have to keep them for 30 years" under the terms of the tax credit financing.

The 72-unit development would be made up of three three-story buildings that would cover just 18 percent of the 7.9-acre site. The property is on the west side of Signal Hill Drive across from Hyder Street.
"We have strict guidelines (for tenants) as far as credit, crime and so forth," Ulrich said. "We do not tolerate drugs whatsoever. If a tenant is involved in drugs of any kind it's an automatic eviction."

HAC: County needs 286 units

Don Daines, the HAC's director of residential development, said in an interview he was not aware that another affordable housing project had been proposed within a mile of Oklawaha Village.
"It's very competitive so it's good that people are trying to do them in Henderson County because Henderson County certainly needs the units," he said. "We feel very pleased" with the meeting. "We tried to frontload the design to minimize any impact on the neighbors and I think we achieved that."
Don DainesThe traffic concerns neighbors raised had been anticipated, Daines said, and NCDOT engineers should be able to solve that.
"They will assess what they need to assess to determine the adequacy of the traffic pattern," he said.
"There's very strict requirements on the property, on landscaping, on maintenance and snow removal," Daines said during the meeting. "We're very comfortable that the property will be maintained the upkeep will be very well maintained."
A part of the property not in the city would be annexed but no other adjoining land would be taken into the city, Planning Director Sue Anderson said.
Sean Rose lives in a home himself built through the agency's Self Help program. Now HAC's construction superintendent, Rose told the audience that the homeowners have a strong incentive to keep their property up.
"They have to put in 13 hours per week per family members" in construction, he said. "They have to be involved in 65 percent of the labor that goes into the house, so they get to touch all aspects of construction." The HAC has overseen the construction of 130 homes through the Self Help program since 1994.
Even if the city were to approve land-use applications for both Oklawaha Village and Signal Ridge Apartments, the total of 138 units would not meet the need, HAC says. Board President Sarah Ball said studies have shown the county needs 286 units.
"We're the only organization that's building these type of affordable units," she said. "Our rental market is a real problem."