City could waive water fees for affordable housing

Summary#

“Local Gov. Assisting Affordable Housing” would amend North Carolina’s law on water and sewer system development fees. It would let the City of Winston-Salem, or a qualifying joint agency, choose to waive or reduce those fees for affordable housing developments; the stated goal is to give local governments more authority to assist or incentivize such developers. The bill has been introduced and is not law.

  • The city or joint agency may waive the fee or reduce its cost; it would not be required to do so.
  • If it uses this authority, it must adopt criteria for deciding which developments qualify.
  • The bill applies only to Winston-Salem.
  • The bill does not require the city to fund housing, build housing, or change fees for other services.

What it means for you#

  • Affordable housing developers: If Winston-Salem or a qualifying joint agency adopts the option and your development meets its criteria, you may pay a lower or no water or sewer system development fee. The bill does not guarantee a reduction.
  • Winston-Salem and a qualifying joint agency: They may grant the fee relief and must adopt eligibility criteria for deciding who qualifies.
  • Residents and taxpayers: The bill does not directly change your taxes, create a housing benefit for residents, or require any fee waiver.
  • Current law: The text amends an existing statute, but the current statute was not supplied. I could not verify how much of this authority is new compared with current law.

Money#

No cost estimate is provided; no publicly available information on the bill’s fiscal effect is included in the supplied material.

  • The bill does not appropriate money or set a fee amount.
  • If the city or joint agency reduces or waives fees, it would collect less from affected developments. The amount is unknown.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not define “affordable housing development” or set minimum affordability requirements.
  • It does not say what eligibility criteria the city or joint agency must use, or require a particular amount of fee relief.
  • It does not set an application process, decision timeline, appeal process, or reporting requirement.
  • The current version of the amended statute was not supplied, so the change from existing law could not be fully checked.
  • No publicly available information in the supplied material explains how Winston-Salem plans to use the authority.

Case for#

  • A possible argument for the bill is that water and sewer development fees can add to development costs, and local fee relief could make some affordable housing projects less costly.
  • Letting local officials choose whether to grant relief—and requiring them to set criteria—allows a local response without requiring every project to receive a waiver.
  • Limiting the bill to Winston-Salem keeps the authority local rather than applying it statewide.

Case against#

  • The bill does not require fee relief, so it may not lead to any reduction in development costs.
  • It leaves “affordable housing development” and the eligibility criteria undefined, giving the city or joint agency broad discretion.
  • Fee reductions could mean less revenue for water or sewer services, but the bill gives no estimate or replacement funding.
  • Because the current statute was not supplied, it is unclear how much practical authority the bill would add.