New Affordable Housing Board in Carrboro Seeks Members

The Town of Carrboro is searching for members to fill the seats of its new Affordable Housing Board.

The creation of the new advisory board was discussed at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting, according to Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle.

“One of the items dealt with how that would happen and how that would look and how we’d solicit for members, and the composition of it and so forth.”

Lavelle says Carrboro has had an effective affordable housing task force for several years.

“Now that that has been set up and adopted and is underway, we thought it was time to transition that task force into more of an ongoing-type advisory board,” said Lavelle.

Carrboro is currently searching for residents to fill the following seats:

• Five residents of the Town of Carrboro
• One resident of the Town’s extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction or the Town
• One member who need not be a resident of the Town of Carrboro, but who must possess special expertise related to affordable housing.

Also discussed at last week’s meeting was the transfer of ownership of the affordable housing apartments in the Windward development off Homestead Road from a private manager to local partner, Community Home Trust. Up to $16,000 will be allocated from the Affordable Housing Fund to facilitate this transfer.

Additionally, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously earlier this month to split over $2.7 million between five local affordable housing projects as part of the first round of funding provided by a $5 million bond approved by voters in November.

The decision to create an official affordable housing board in Carrboro follows the release of the Affordable Housing Analysis Summary and Recommendations report for Chapel Hill put out by David Paul Rosen and Associates in April.

These recommendations for the town include targeting new sites, targeting population, giving direct funding to specific priority projects and developing new funding tools and resources.

Anyone interested in becoming a member of Carrboro’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board can apply at the town’s website.