Housing
Mortgage rates are stabilizing but that may not be enough to help house hunters
Home prices are cooling off and mortgage rates fell last week, but the fallout from recent bank closures could continue to make it hard for some Americans to buy homes, economists say. Mortgage rates fell to 6.32% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, Freddie Mac data released on Thursday shows. Last fall, the 30-year fixed […]
Gov. Cooper will allow two bills similar to those he previously vetoed to become law without his signature
Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday he is allowing bills on hotel tenants and rioting penalties to become law without his signature. Senate bill 53 says that people who live in inns, motels, campgrounds, or other lodgings do not have legal rights afforded tenants if they live in those places for fewer than 90 consecutive days. […]
Democratic governors pitch federal funds for housing, clean energy
Roy Cooper joins peers from Maryland, Colorado, Minnesota and New York at D.C. event WASHINGTON — Using the recent influx of federal funds to expand state and local clean energy infrastructure, affordable housing and workforce development will pay long-term dividends, a group of Democratic governors and mayors said Wednesday at an event hosted by a […]
ReBuild NC placed hurricane survivors at Fayetteville motel, which has now evicted some of them
Editor’s note: As of noon Friday, the woman and her son were relocated by ReBuildNC to a hotel in Lumberton. Policy Watch will continue to update this story as additional details become available. 2:33 p.m. The homeowner called Policy Watch and said the motel in Lumberton had no rooms until tomorrow at 3 p.m. Meanwhile, […]
Billions for natural disasters, home energy included in stopgap spending bill in Congress
WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve billions in funding this week to help offset rising home heating and cooling costs as well as boost aid for communities recovering from natural disasters. The package, unveiled overnight, would provide $2.5 billion in assistance for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire that scorched much of New Mexico […]
From election conspiracy theories, to shortchanged teachers, to the truth about NC’s bungled disaster relief program: The week’s top stories on Policy Watch
1. Payroll system switch shortchanges hundreds of teachers, leads to finger-pointing by state and local officials State lawmakers aware of the erroneous deductions in March Bobbie Cavnar, a Gaston County Schools high school English teacher, was shocked last month when his paystub showed $1,600 worth of unexplained deductions. Fortunately for the 2016-17 North Carolina Teacher […]
As rural homelessness increases, HUD aims money at helping people without access to shelters
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened up millions of dollars in funding for groups serving unhoused people in rural areas — an unprecedented move by the agency, say housing advocates. People living in cars, parks, and on the street at night, which the agency labels unsheltered homelessness, has increased across the nation, […]
People of color shouldn’t have to obliterate their presence to receive fair home values
Another case of likely racial discrimination in housing appraisals has cropped up, this time in Baltimore. The New York Times recently reported a Black husband and wife first received an appraisal of $472,000. After they “whitewashed” their home – removing family photos and having a White colleague stand in for them as the “owner” – […]
Home ownership and the “American Dream” are crushed by Real Estate Investment Trusts
A big economic division between renters and homeowners is apparent when looking at net worth: For homeowners, the median net worth of $231,400 is about 44 times the median net worth of renters, which is $5,200. Dr. Ken Chilton of Tennessee State University has studied the impact of Real Estate Investment Trusts on the housing […]
Plagued by construction delays, ReBuild NC has spent $10.6 million to house Hurricane Matthew survivors in motels, rent storage units
This story has been corrected to reflect the first TRA payment was in August 2019, not January 2020. ReBuild NC has spent $10.64 million on motels, moving and storage unit expenses in three years for displaced Hurricane Matthew survivors, as construction and administrative delays have kept people from returning to their homes. The figures were […]
“No one tells me what to do”: Meeting notes reveal favored contractors, animosity toward others in Hurricane Matthew recovery
In response to a Policy Watch investigation published last week, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) denied that Rescue Construction Solutions (Rescue) received favorable treatment over other general contractors in bidding and scoring related to Hurricane Matthew disaster recovery work. Hundreds of households — equivalent to thousands of people — remain displaced […]
NCORR disputes PW’s coverage of its Hurricane Matthew recovery work: their complaints, our responses
The NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency is disputing a previous Policy Watch story that Rescue Construction Solutions received preferential treatment in the bidding and scoring processes. We are publishing their rebuttals and our responses in full, unedited. NCORR sent these rebuttals via email, which are public under state open records law. ===== First NCORR […]