Developing affordable housing plans is a critical step in appropriately and sustainably allocating funds and resources to address housing needs. Wake County has already seen half of its municipalities create affordable housing plans, with others starting their process. The selected strategies build on the current momentum while also embedding accountability and community involvement into the plans and their implementation.

The workgroup is uniquely positioned with connections to various communities within Wake County.  The affordable housing and homelessness workgroup is focused on building community engagement in housing plan development in a way that results in effective advocacy in support for higher density, mixed use spaces to alleviate Wake County’s housing shortages. The workgroup will accomplish these strategies through community education, empowerment, and advocacy. Advocacy efforts will involve both giving community members the resources and skill building to become their own advocates as well as the workgroup itself providing advocacy to municipalities in Wake County. 

The workgroup is uniquely positioned with connections to various communities within Wake County. Due to the workgroup’s structure, it is also uniquely positioned to advocate in a way that individuals representing their direct organizations may not be able to. This workgroup will work closely with and support ongoing efforts through Wake County’s Department of Affordable Housing & Community Revitalization. Efforts will provide accountability to the municipalities who already have strong affordable housing plans while also working with municipalities who have yet to create a plan.

Wake County is one of the fastest growing communities in North Carolina. With growth comes the challenge to ensure that everyone can afford to live within the county. The importance of stable housing not only creates family stablity but is an important factor in economic growth and community vitalization. The inability to afford housing contributes to homelessness, cost burden, overcrowding, and exposure to various health risk factors.  These experiences can affect physical health and make it harder to access health care. Limited affordable housing options directly coincide with homelessness. Persons experiencing homelessness have higher rates of health problems like mental illness, substance misuse, HIV, tuberculosis, and other conditions. Health problems among homeless persons result from many issues like barriers to healthcare, food insecurity, and limited social services resources. Since the COVID-19 pandemic the need for emergency support services and shelter space has increased for vulnerable residents.