Affordable rental housing might be coming to a cemetery near you.
The Chapel Hill Town Council voted Monday to sell town-owned land to an affordable rental housing corporation for a low-income housing tax credit project in a 7-1 decision.
The Raleigh-based Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation now has the go-ahead to seek approval for federal funding for its 170-unit affordable housing plan on a portion of Legion Road near the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery.
“What we’re hoping with this action is that DHIC is going to be successful in the application to be able to make this project come alive,” said Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. “There’s still a lot of work to do. We’ll all be anxious next August to see this application be approved.”
Gregg Warren, president and executive director of DHIC, said he is excited about the development and thinks it will offer a positive outcome for the town. The development will include 90 apartments geared towards working class families and 80 units geared towards senior citizens.
“It’s a really great opportunity to turn vacant land into something that actually contributes to the community,” said Dan Levine, a member of the Mayor’s Committee for Affordable Rental Housing.
“I think we’re really behind the curve on rental housing if you look at other communities across the Triangle. This is an opportunity to catch up.”
Council member Matt Czajkowski said the town’s financial demands are too great to donate the land even though the proposal is one that, on its face, anyone would endorse.
“This is land, but it could be cash,” he said. “It’s worth at least $2 million. We have multiple other looming financial demands. This is exactly what priority budgeting is all about.”
