Affordable Housing Goals


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What is Affordable Housing? How We Work to Meet Our Goals Affordable Housing Bond  Affordable Housing Annual Report

The City is committed to creating, preserving, and encouraging the development of affordable housing units in Raleigh. In 2016, the City established an aspirational goal to create 570 affordable housing units per year for 10 years, for a grand total of 5,700 housing units by 2026.

graphic showing the City's progress towards the 5,700 affordable housing unit goal. The graphic segments out each year's unit count onto its own line.

So far, the City has created and preserved 3,439 affordable housing units, completing over half of the 10-year goal.

The City’s efforts primarily serve low- and moderate-income (LMI) individuals and families. Income limits are set each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and are based on the Area Median Income (AMI) per city or county. 

Family Size  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
30% AMI $23,800 $27,200 $30,600 $34,000 $36,750 $39,450 $42,200 $44,900
50% AMI $39,700 $45,350 $51,000 $56,650 $61,200 $65,750 $70,250 $74,800
60% AMI $47,640 $54,420 $61,200 $67,980 $73,440 $78,900 $84,300 $89,760
80% AMI $63,500 $72,550 $81,600 $90,650 $97,950 $105,200 $112,450 $119,700

What is Affordable Housing?

While housing affordability is impacted by construction costs and the overall supply of available homes in the rental market, one factor stands above all others: increases in household income have not kept pace with increases in rent in recent decades.  Moreover, the “gap” is projected to continue increasing.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines affordable housing as when the rent or mortgage (principal, interest, and taxes included) does not exceed 30% of the household’s gross monthly income. For more information, please visit our What is Affordable Housing? webpage.

How We Work to Meet Our Goals

A home under construction in the East College Park neighborhood.

The affordable housing goal counts housing units that have been created and/or preserved through the following four activities:

City-Funded Affordable Rental Developments 

The map below provides an interactive look at city-funded affordable housing developments since 2016. To view a fullscreen version of the map and dashboard, please click here. 

  • Click and drag your cursor to view different areas of the map and double-click to zoom in 
  • Select a dot to see the project name, number of units, developer, or the status of the development 

Affordable Housing Bond 

Apartment buildings at Washington Terrace.

The Affordable Housing Bond is an investment to support and enrich the lives of residents with household incomes that are 30%, 50%, 60%, and 80% of AMI. The bond, totaling $80 million, will be spent in stages over the next five years. To learn more, please visit the links below:  

Affordable Housing Annual Report

We invite you to read the Affordable Housing Annual report to see the Department’s affordable housing initiatives and accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2022-2023 and our priorities for Fiscal Year 2023-2024. View/Download the Report

Affordable housing is important to City residents with stable housing benefit from increased family stability, improved education opportunities and career advancement, and reduced risks of homelessness. Affordable housing is also a key factor in community vitality and continued economic growth.

The City will continue to work toward the aspirational affordable housing goal, and periodic updates will be added to the Raleigh Housing website.

2021 City of Raleigh Affordable Housing Plan