Away from flood-plain. Resiliency monies spur apartments for the ‘rent-burdened’
GRANTSBORO – A whopping 47 percent of folks in Pamlico County are defined as rent-burdened, which means the roof over their heads costs them more than 30 percent of household income.
Monday night, Beth Bucksot, the county’s economic development specialist, used that statistic to explain why our area is a prime candidate to receive state government largess. She added that Pamlico County is among a woeful six counties (others are Bladen, Duplin, Jones, Pender and Scotland) that have yet to benefit from North Carolina’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency – established by Gov. Roy Cooper and the state legislature after Hurricane Florence.
That entity, known by the acronym NCORR, is in the midst of launching a third phase of the Affordable Housing Development Fund. Total funding across the six counties could total as much as $47 million. Local governments in the six counties can apply for partial financing to construct multifamily or single-family housing rehabilitation – always outside of the 100-year floodplain.
Steering clear of floodplains is the Number One Rule of ‘resiliency.’
The pair of developers each presented proposals that will rely, in large part, on NCORR monies. Farmland sites along Hwy 55 in Grantsboro – adjacent to or near the existing Walmart – have been tentatively targeted.
Mills Construction Company offered preliminary plans for a 56-unit, two-story complex. That proposal cited NCORR funding of $6-plus million, to be augmented by a private mortgage and 4 percent federal tax credits – yielding a total project outlay of more than $13 million.
Halcon Development, LLC presented a slightly less ambitious project of 42 units, also rolling NCORR funds into an overall budget of $11 million.
Bucksot said much paperwork remains in order to complete an NCORR application due in August of 2023. If she secures a ‘conditional commitment’ for funding that will go toward either (or both plans) for subsidized apartments, the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners is expected to quickly bestow its blessings.
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