Dare Housing Task Force to convene special April 22 meeting with state senators
Following up on a decision taken at the April 16 Dare County Housing Task Force meeting, that group will hold a special meeting on Monday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. with State Senators Norman Sanderson and Bobby Hanig. The agenda for the meeting states it is being called to “discuss the housing challenges that are currently affecting the community.”
At that April 16 meeting, The Task Force agreed to reach out to legislators in Raleigh and invite them to meet to hear feedback that will likely include a discussion of changing the legislation that provided $35 million in state funding for affordable housing in Dare County.
That money came with a major string attached, a provision that restricted Dare County municipalities’ from regulating housing developments within their borders. That provision generated a lawsuit from the six Dare County towns and a resolution from the Dare County Board of Commissioners stating that they would not abide by it.
On April 9, one week before the Task Force meeting, the county commissioners announced they were ending their housing partnership with Coastal Affordable Housing, LLC, which had the $35 million pot of state money to work with. The commissioners also announced they were going to return that money to the state.
But after several Task Force members suggested the county try to the salvage the $35 million, the group decided on April 16 to send a letter to state officials calling for repeal of HB 259, the legislation that conditioned that $35 million on restricting the municipalities’ ability to regulate those housing developments.
At next Monday’s special Task Force meeting with the legislators, that issue is expected to be on the agenda. The meeting will be held at the Dare County Administration Building – Room 168, 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive, Manteo.
