The state of housing in Winston-Salem, Part 2: The Choice Neighborhood Grant

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word for year for 2024 was “polarization,” which is defined as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.” While there were several polarizing topics discussed last year, one thing that everyone can agree on no matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican, unaffiliated, or never voted, the lack of quality affordable housing is a problem in Winston-Salem and across the state.  Housing is considered affordable if a family pays no more than 30% of its annual gross income in housing costs. Families paying more than one-third of their annual income toward housing are  considered cost-burdened. Those families paying more than 50% are considered severely cost-burdened.  In 2018 a study showed that Winston-Salem was in need of about 16,000 new affordable housing units. And according to the N.C. Housing Coalition, last year 28% of households, which is about 1,118, 220 North Carolinians, are cost-burdened. To begin our State of Housing series, we’ll delve into the Choice Neighborhood Grant.  A year after the study was released in 2019, the Housing Authority...