General Information:
- More residential housing will be built in North Carolina between now and 2030 than in any other state except CA, TX and FL–more than 2.2 million units, a 40% increase over the current housing stock.
- Single-family housing is likely to generate an average of ten auto trips per weekday while apartments generate only seven; high-rise apartments generate even fewer trips, averaging only four trips per day.
- Single-Family housing often uses one acre per every 4 to 6 homes.
- Provides added privacy
Medium Density Multifamily:
- Multifamily development often is more environmentally friendly than low-density development.
- Multifamily housing choices are important to the economic vitality of the larger community.
- Multifamily housing can help minimize area wide traffic congestion.
- Multifamily housing enables communities to provide housing that is affordable to a wider range of incomes.
- By housing more people on less land, multifamily housing developments make it possible to preserve more open space and natural features than do single-family housing developments.
- While it may increase traffic at an individual site, multifamily housing can significantly relieve overall regional traffic congestion.
- Multifamily housing allows more people to live in housing they can afford that is near their work.
- Multifamily housing developments that are clustered along transportation corridors make various kinds of mass transportation feasible.
High Density Multifamily:
Myths
- Higher-density development overburdens public schools and other public services and requires more infrastructure support systems.
- Higher-density developments lower property values in surrounding areas.
- Higher-density development creates more regional traffic congestion and parking problems than low-density development.
- Higher-density development leads to higher crime rates.
- Higher-density development is environmentally more destructive than lower-density development.
- Higher-density development is unattractive and does not fit in a low-density community.
- No one in suburban areas wants higher-density development.
- Higher-density housing is only for lower-income households.
Facts
- The nature of who lives in higher-density housing—fewer families with children—puts less demand on schools and other public services than low-density housing. Moreover, the compact nature of higher-density development requires less extensive infrastructure to support it.
- No discernible difference exists in the appreciation rate of properties located near higher-density development and those that are not. Some research even shows that higher-density development can increase property values.
- Higher-density development generates less traffic than low-density development per unit; it makes walking and public transit more feasible and creates opportunities for shared parking.
- The crime rates at higher-density developments are not significantly different from those at lower-density developments.
- Low-density development increases air and water pollution and destroys natural areas by paving and urbanizing greater swaths of land.
- Attractive, well-designed, and well-maintained higher-density development attracts good residents and tenants and fits into existing communities.
- Our population is changing and becoming increasingly diverse. Many of the households now prefer higher-density housing, even in suburban locations.
- People of all income groups choose higher-density housing.
Retail:
Small Retail
- Provides convenience and low prices without the large format size of large retailers
Large Retail
- Large, industrial style structures
- Uniform in architecture and appearance
- Usually 1-story of floor space but 3-stories tall
- 20,000 to 200,000 square feet of footprint
- Parking lots can be 4 to 7 times the size of store footprint
- Negative impact on traffic: 10,000 trips/day
- Increased stormwater runoff/pollution
- May drive local retailers out of business
- Convenience and low prices
- May benefit other retailers by attracting shoppers
Mixed Use
General Information:
For many communities, the development of mixed-income housing has successfully addressed the scarcity of affordably priced housing. Long thought to be an
Myths
- Mixed-income housing cannot work—high-income residents will not live near low-income residents.
- Local regulations make it too difficult to develop mixed-income housing.
- Only nonprofit developers and public housing authorities build mixed-income housing.
- Affordable housing is unattractive and a blight to the neighborhood.
- The marketplace can meet the demand for moderate-income housing.
- Financing for mixed-income housing developments is unavailable or hard to come by.
- Mixed-income housing brings down the property values of neighboring residences.
- Community opposition to new mixed-income housing is an insurmountable obstacle.
Facts
- Healthy neighborhoods have long included a blend of incomes—and new developments can achieve the same compatibility.
- Local and state regulations, incentives, and technical assistance can help the private sector to produce mixed-income housing.
- For-profit developers produce mixed-income housing in many forms.
- Mixed-income housing developments help raise the standards for good design in affordable housing, providing appealing residences that blend in with surrounding communities.
- The marketplace needs help to supply enough housing, especially for working families; mixed-income developments can alleviate that need, providing housing that is safe, livable, and close to employment centers.
- There are many sources of financing to support the development of mixed-income housing.
- Mixed-income housing has been found to make no difference in the values of adjacent properties.
- Mixed-income housing can be an appealing option that lends itself to community acceptance.