Affordable Housing and Housing Affordability

[Roganberry]

@Roganberry

@Nosyarg

For the record, my rent for a studio+ apartment in the building at the corner of Ashe and Hillsborough street (literally the outer boundary of downtown) was $595 just 5 years ago. I could even sunbathe or have brunch on the roof outside my kitchen windovw.
For a native, these prices are ridiculous. Sure, we may have gotten a few new developments and storefronts that have opened in the tiime since, but literally nothing has drastically changed about the amount of benefits or amenities downtown Raleigh living has to offer.

It’s downright distressing to see these numbers for new housing while older places are either getting demolished and replaced, bought and flipped for profit, or gobbled up solely for the purpose short term rentals / tourist housing.

(Bit of a tangent but I hate how in a market suffering from a housing stock shortage, there are several older apartments in cameron village on airbnb that actual citizens could use for long term housing but can’t because a single person is renting them all out for short term visitors. It’s literally maddening and only drives this ridiculous rental price inflation for housing for city citizens! Not a strictly “Raleigh issue”, but it’s why it’s so hard not to scoff at $1300/mo being a “good deal” for renting young professionals. )

Reading “$4000/mo for a 3bd in Raleigh” makes me want to scream.

I support more housing and density in nearly every instance for the record. As someone who rented in DTR from 2012-2018 it sounds like you had something of a unicorn 5 years ago at that price point. I was paying $850/mo for a 2 bedroom in that same area in 2014. There are also plenty of places cheaper than The Platform today. Even at $1300/mo per room a person making ~$50,000 would be spending 30% of the income on rent which is considered a good benchmark for budgeting. There are also a LOT of young professionals making more than $50,000 which is why I said it is actually a pretty good deal for those people.

I do not think there is anything wrong with having higher end, new apartments even if they price out some part of the population. Being able to command higher rents is what leads to more multi family development, more supply and eventually lower rents overall. JMO

For reference, personal income per capita in Raleigh was ~$66,000 in 2021, so $1,300/mo for an apartment would be ~22% of per capita income. And again, this is for one of the most expensive apartment buildings in all of the city.

Looking at affordability for service industry and lower income folks.

927 West Morgan on a spot check (area mentioned earlier) for an “older” apartment is ~$850/mo for a room in a 3 bedroom. ~15% of per capita income. Would be in line with budget benchmarks (30% of income) for someone making ~30,000/yr - the equivalent of a full time $15/hr job.

A 2 bedroom at the L is also $850/mo per room.

Not going to research but my guess is you can easily find something even cheaper in older stock.

The un-affordability of Raleigh and even Downtown Raleigh is greatly exaggerated on this forum. Plain and simple.

Per Capita Personal Income in Raleigh, NC (MSA)

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/money/how-much-should-i-spend-on-rent