Gov. Josh Stein signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at addressing the need for more affordable housing, as North Carolina continues to see its population grow at a rapid pace.
“You all have heard the expression that if you build it, they will come,” he said at a press conference. “Turns out in North Carolina, if you don’t build it, they will still come. People want to live and work here, but we simply do not have enough homes to meet that growing demand.”
Stein, a Democrat, pointed out that in the last year, more people moved to North Carolina from other states than to any other state, touting the state’s ranking last year as the top state for business, workforce development, and economic development, and the most job announcements in the state’s history, with the creation of 35,000 well-paying jobs.
But looking ahead to 2029, he said the state is projected to be more than 750,000 homes short of meeting the housing needs of its burgeoning population.
The governor said that teachers in 23 of the state’s counties do not make enough money to pay the average rent in those counties. Stein also said that carpenters, who build the homes in Charlotte, for example, could afford only about 20% of the entry-level homes on the market. In Raleigh, they can only afford 8% of the available entry-level homes.
He added in a press release that 53% of enlisted families in North Carolina report spending more than 30% of their monthly income on housing and utilities, and that from 2024 to 2025 North Carolina saw the ninth-highest rental price increases in the country.
“Housing is the single biggest expense that most families face,” he said. “So, if somebody’s rent or mortgage takes up too much of their monthly paycheck, that means that they have that much less to spend on other essentials.”
Stein said in order to meet the state’s housing goals, the private sector must be leveraged, along with federal funds, to build more affordable housing options, current houses need to rehabilitated to make them more efficient, collaboration between local governments and builders needs to be encouraged for more innovation and creativity to increase housing supply, and an investment in workforce training and apprenticeships is needed, as there is a shortage of skilled trades and construction professionals needed to build these homes.
“There are bipartisan efforts at the General Assembly to cut red tape and make it easier to build housing, which I support,” he said. “Groups from all ends of the ideological spectrum, from Americans for Prosperity and the John Locke Foundation, to the Catawba River Keepers and the North Carolina Housing Coalition. They share a lot of the same ideas, and there are many common-sense recommendations that would increase the state’s housing supply. The ideas all revolve around freedom and flexibility, making it easier for homeowners, builders, and local governments to build and maintain more types of housing that people need.”
Donald Bryson, CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said in a statement that Stein is right to focus attention on North Carolina’s housing affordability crisis.
“The best way to make housing more affordable is straightforward — make it easier to build more homes,” he said. “That means reducing outdated zoning restrictions, allowing more starter homes and accessory dwelling units, permitting housing near jobs and commercial areas, and streamlining local approval processes. Subsidies may help some families at the margins, but sustainable affordability comes from abundance.”
Stein said the executive order will coordinate efforts across state government to facilitate more housing construction, and housing access agencies will collaborate with each other and use data and technology to gather more information on housing needs, potential solutions, and locations, working with local governments and corporate and nonprofit partners around shared goals.
A new position, senior advisor for housing policy, was also created under the executive order. Janneke Ratcliffe, who recently served as vice president of the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute, will serve in the role.
“We can’t just build more high-end homes and luxury apartment buildings; we need multi-generational options like backyard cottages, and we need starter homes so that our young households can put down roots right here in our communities, and we need more innovation from factory-built housing, for example,” she said.
Ratcliffe also said that over 40,000 households are on a wait list for subsidized housing units, and homelessness rose in 2024, especially among families with children.
Ratcliffe also gave examples of different communities’ future needs, like Jones County, which may need a few hundred homes to close the forecast housing gap through 2029, which would be more than 10% of its existing housing stock. Chatham County, which needs to close the biggest gap, a 33% increase in its housing stock. It also has the highest median list price for a home in the state at over $800,000. Both Jones and Chatham are also in the Our State Our Homes affordable housing project. She said that Wake County needs over 100,000 units as well.
Last month, a bill was introduced to create a $50 million revolving loan fund to help nonprofit developers cover upfront infrastructure costs for affordable housing projects.
House Bill 1072, titled the Affordable Housing Infrastructure Development Act, would direct the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to establish and administer a below-market-rate loan program for qualifying nonprofit organizations developing affordable housing.
Under the bill, loans could be used for early-stage development expenses, including land acquisition, site preparation, utility connections, water and sewer infrastructure, permitting, and related preconstruction costs.
Supporters say the measure addresses a financing gap that often delays or prevents affordable housing developments from moving forward. Nonprofit developers frequently struggle to secure funding for infrastructure and site work before construction begins.
The bill would appropriate $50 million from the state General Fund during the 2026-27 fiscal year to capitalize the revolving loan fund. Loan repayments would return to the fund for future projects.