Affordable housing will be at the top of the agenda for a joint meeting Thursday night between Orange County commissioners and the Chapel Hill Town Council.

Visit this link for the full agenda.

Among other things, commissioners and council members will discuss plans for a 78-acre site on Millhouse Road. Local officials have identified that land as a possible site for affordable housing development – but it’s currently located in Chapel Hill’s rural buffer, which means the county will have to make some zoning changes first.

Commissioners and council members will also discuss possible affordable housing options for the Greene Tract, a 164-acre site near Rogers Road that’s jointly owned by Orange County and the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

But perhaps the most pressing concern involves the future of two mobile home parks in northern Chapel Hill – Lakeview Park on Weaver Dairy Road and Homestead Park off NC-86. Residents in both communities are facing imminent eviction to make room for redevelopment, and town and county officials have been scrambling to find housing alternatives for those residents – many of whom are children. Chapel Hill officials have been working with Lakeview residents all year, and the efforts have intensified in recent weeks. Earlier this month, UNC grad students held a “phone-a-thon” to identify vacancies in other Orange County mobile home parks; county staff met with Homestead residents over the weekend; and on Tuesday, staffers presented commissioners with a pair of relocation options. Town and county officials will discuss next steps at Thursday’s meeting.

Affordable housing is only one of many items on the agenda: officials will also discuss economic development, new projects at the Southern County Campus, and updates at the Waste and Recycling Center on Eubanks Road.

The meeting will take place Thursday at 7 pm at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road.