North Carolina continues to grow but, the number of houses available has not. While housing prices have increased, wages have remained stagnant. Single-family homes are now selling for astronomical prices and working people are being shut out from the dream of homeownership. While we expand and build new housing, we must have a government that is bold enough to combat gentrification and ensure that wealthy neighborhood developers do not prevent working-class housing from being built. We need to remove restrictive exclusionary zoning ordinances leftover from the Jim Crow era that have segregated our communities and replace them with zoning that encourages the development of affordable, fully accessible housing. 

Currently, our state has preempted local governments’ ability to establish rent control or stabilization limits that meet local needs, causing us to endure excessive rent increases that do not correspond to the property's value. As more people move to North Carolina, local governments' hands are tied in their ability to control rent prices and greedy landlords can charge people whatever they like. Local governments must be able to protect their communities and tenets from skyrocketing rents. 

Nearly a third of North Carolinians are renters and live at the whim of the person or corporation we rent from. Renters must be protected and have security in the places we live. Landlords should not be able to charge additional fees and deposits (such as first and last month's rent) before we even move in. Landlords should be prohibited from discriminating against tenants based on things like credit scores, criminal records, past evictions, or because we are undocumented or LGBTQIA+. Every county must have minimum housing codes that allow renters to request an inspection of the places we live to make sure our homes are fully functional and are meeting basic health and safety standards. 

Big corporations are coming into our communities and buying residential properties, and because they have the resources to offer more than the asking price in cash, they readily out-compete working families. Additionally, our rural communities are being inundated with wealthy people from out of town buying second homes and leasing them as AirBnbs. Often, our hometowns are now filled with tourists who do not have any investment in our communities and treat the places we love as vacation spots. Families who have been in our counties for generations cannot even afford to live here now. Our elected officials must disincentivize both corporations and wealthy out-of-staters from competing with our people. Houses are for people, not a way for corporations or the rich to make money while we have our families and friends living on the streets. 

Over the last two decades, we have seen a disinvestment in public housing and a shrinking budget to fund HUD. As a result, there is not enough subsidized housing to meet needs, the available stock is aging and poorly maintained, and landlords often refuse to rent to low-income families. Those of us who need this assistance often wait years to get the voucher we need right now. We will fight for a better public housing system in North Carolina that preserves and invests in public housing.