NC Housing Finance Agency Grant


Courtesy of Senator Angela Bryant: News from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency

North Carolina will gain $470 million in affordable rental apartments as the result of federal Housing Credits approved this month.  The new awards are expected to support 9,500 jobs in construction and other industries.  They will produce 3,690 privately owned, privately managed affordable apartments in 36 counties, including some counties within Senator Bryant’s district.   

In addition to the federal tax credits, 22 of the properties will receive $10 million in loans from the Workforce Housing Loan Program (WHLP), created by the General Assembly in 2014 to encourage development in low- to moderate-income counties.  WHLP loans range from $250,000 to just under $1 million.  These properties will be located in 20 counties, including some where no affordable apartments have been built for several years, such as Randolph, Washington and Yadkin. 

Loans totaling $12 million were also awarded to 15 of the projects by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency’s board of directors.  Together these provisions make it possible to build affordable apartments in low-income, rural counties and to reduce the rents in urban counties. 

All of the apartments are affordable for households at 60 percent of median income, and many are affordable at 50 percent or 40 percent of median because of the additional financing.  For a family of four, the maximum income ranges from $47,280 (60 percent in Wake County) to $20,320 (40 percent in low-wealth counties, such as Robeson or Wilkes).

This year’s awards include at least 283 apartments for persons with disabilities, affordable to persons living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of approximately $721 a month.  Rent assistance is available for these apartments under the Key Program, an initiative created in 2004. 

This year’s work will bring a total number of Housing Credit apartments built in the state to more than 70,600 units. 

*The Workforce Housing Loan Program (WHLP) was created by the General Assembly in 2014 to encourage development in low- to moderate-income counties.