Chapel Hill’s proud liberals continue to talk about the need for “affordable housing” in Chapel Hill. They’re right — Chapel Hill property is expensive, which means the well paid university elite can afford to live where they work, but many others can’t. Tonight, the town council will meet again to try and figure what to do.Their preferred solution is — no surprise — yet another government project.
In September, the Raleigh-based Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation proposed a 140-unit affordable housing complex on Legion Road on the undeveloped portion of the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery property in response to the town’s growing affordable rental housing crisis.
“It’s clear that elected officials and residents of Chapel Hill want to see expanded rental housing opportunities for folks that work in the university system or health care system that find it difficult to find housing,” said Gregg Warren, president of DHIC.
“This property was specifically identified for this type of housing — workforce housing.”
Ah yes — “workforce housing.”
Sadly, town officials continue to ignore the role the town’s own policies play in creating and sustaining the housing shortage. What’s needed is reform of the sky-high tax code, restrictive land-use regulations, and intrusive anti-developer building codes.
