Affordable Housing
Why we deploy capital into affordable housing?
Housing Prices are Rising – Over the last 40 years, home prices in Southeastern North Carolina have increased at a rate of 22% faster than the rest of the state. This increase is driven primarily by New Hanover County (second highest in the state), in which home prices are increasing annually by 5.2% since 2013.
Housing Burden is High – Seven out of eight low-income North Carolina residents pay more than a third of their income on housing. Bladen County (second worst in NC) and New Hanover County (sixth worst in NC) are both in the top 10 for housing cost burden at 19.7% and 17.7% of homes experiencing cost burden, respectively.
Homeownership is Becoming Harder – One in three people in the Cape Fear Region does not own their home, slightly higher than the rest of the state.
Housing Quality is Poor in Low-Income Areas – One in five Cape Fear census tracts is underperforming the state in terms of households with adequate kitchen and plumbing facilities.
Interested in seeing more data insights on housing? Visit our Healthy Communities Dashboard. (https://healthycommunitiesnc.org/)
Through our nonprofit and real estate partners, CFC focuses on providing affordable and workforce housing for citizens throughout the Cape Fear Region. Generally, we focus on individuals and families making less than $45,000 in our affordable housing category and between $45,000 and $65,000 in our workforce housing category, working to keep their housing costs under 30% of their overall income.
We currently have over $16 million invested in affordable housing, mostly in New Hanover County, totaling over 100 units. Across the portfolio of homes we attempt to support the following models:
Affordable and Workforce Rentals and Home Ownership – Finding affordable housing is challenging. We purchase and rehabilitate properties that are then transferred to nonprofit partners to maintain as affordable rentals or sold to homebuyers. We also work closely with real estate professionals who specialize in first time home buyer programs to connect our affordable properties with their clients. This program’s velocity provides a high level of impact and strong returns to investors while helping Cape Fear citizens access housing at a fair price.
Permanent Supportive Housing – Sometimes, it makes more sense for CFC Ventures to purchase, rehabilitate, and maintain ownership of properties. We then work with some of the most experienced nonprofits in the sector to implement blanket lease agreements so they can provide this housing to individuals and families suffering from chronic homelessness, domestic violence, economic hardship, and other life crises.
Large-Scale Affordable Housing Developments – Our structure allows CFC Ventures to provide flexible, gap financing to nonprofits and private sector entities focused on developing larger scale affordable and workforce housing communities or projects.
Cape Fear Collective is not a housing agency meaning we cannot place individuals in housing directly. For more information on partnering with us via a model above, please contact