This is the second installment of our series spotlighting the different ways communities across North Carolina are tackling their housing needs. Here, we are highlighting the Town of Troy’s Smitherman Village rent-to-own program which is providing residents with an...

(Because 1Ls don’t have time for another Top Ten list.) 1 – Law school is something you’re doing, not who you are. Tape that reminder to your bathroom mirror if you have to. Some aspects of law school and the legal profession are designed to hammer your soul if...

Control of stormwater is a big problem and getting bigger. And it’s not just storms like Helene and Chantal that pose risks -- “average” storms are causing more frequent and severe flooding. The Stormwater Association of North Carolina (SWANC) created a stormwater...

Earlier this year, the authority of North Carolina local governments to issue special assessment revenue bonds lapsed. We are sorry to see it go. This type of financing has been very popular in other parts of the country, but it never got a foothold here. There were a...

This post updates a previous post, to now reflect the provisions of the final enacted legislation. “Opportunity Zones,” created in 2016 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, were designed to encourage investment in “distressed areas” by way of deferrals and exclusions on...

We’ve written before, and wondered with something like despair, if we would ever be able to have a productive discussion about diversifying local revenue sources in North Carolina. The situation for local governments is only getting worse....

Federal tax law, and North Carolina state law, allow tax-exempt bonds to be issued to benefit privately owned, for-profit housing developments. The very popular 4% low-income housing tax credit program in fact requires that bonds be issued to finance housing...

This is the first installment in our series spotlighting different ways communities across North Carolina are tackling their housing needs. We heard about Morganton’s Housing Stimulus Program that offers forgivable loans to developers for water, sewer, and streets...

Our friends at the LGC have recently announced policy and process changes that will be useful to local governments in getting financings approved. Reducing the audit blackout period It has been LGC policy for some time that you couldn’t get a financing approved in...

We were glad to be in Sylva on June 18 for a Housing Summit hosted by Western Carolina University and the Southwestern Commission Council of Governments. Bob provided the keynote address (slides available on our LinkedIn) and were pleased to see and be around so many...