Hundreds filled the Raleigh Convention Center on Saturday as the city hosted its second Affordable Housing Convention. The cost and availability of housing are growing concerns in Raleigh, officials said, as the city's population continues to grow.
The convention featured speakers from across the country, as well as state and local housing leaders. Interest in the event was so high, organizers said, that there was a waitlist for admission.
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According to a pre-Hurricane Helene report, North Carolina needs 764,000 additional housing units by 2029 to keep up with projected growth. The number is likely higher because thousands of homes were destroyed by the storm in 2024, Gov. Josh Stein's senior housing policy adviser, Janneke Ratcliffe, said Saturday.
"There are so many fronts; there is, however, real momentum," Ratcliffe said. "It's a great time to be trying to do this."
Raleigh Housing Development Director Emila Sutton said the city has a three-pronged plan to tackle affordable housing in the area:
- Increase subsidized, low-income housing in the city
- Increase the overall supply of housing
- Fight and prevent homelessness
All three issues, she said, are interlinked.
"When we don't have enough housing," Sutton said, "we actually see homelessness increase."
As more large- and small-scale housing developments come onto the Raleigh market, Sutton said rents across the board can level off. To keep up with the number of newcomers the city expects to welcome in the coming years, Raleigh will need more housing of all types.
"We also want people to understand that the more housing that we bring on the market, the better the affordability across," Sutton said. "That is restricted to certain rents, we always want to be adding more affordable housing."