Chapel Hill voters passed a $10 million affordable housing bond during the midterm elections last week, which could lead to the construction of 400 homes and the preservation of 300 more.

The bond passed by an overwhelming 72 percent majority, and after all the votes are certified it will be approved by the town council.

Mayor Pam Hemminger says the $10 million will go into a dedicated debt fund and stretched strategically with several other projects.

“The biggest thing in our debt fund right now is a new municipal services building which includes a new police station, and then we have the sidewalk bonds and the Parks and Recreation bonds and some other bonds that were passed last time as well,” says Hemminger. “You have to stage those in.”

The Housing Advisory Board will be working with the town council to field project offers from affordable housing organizations.

Hemminger says this bond could lead to improvements in public housing as well.

“A lot of our public housing is really old and needs to be rehabbed or made different, if that makes any sense,” says Hemminger. “It might be more dense, it depends on whether it’s on transit or not. We have a lot of things to look at.”

Orange County also approved a $5 million affordable housing bond during the 2016 election.

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