Winmore's Housing Might Not Be Affordable Enough

The UNC Board of Trustees approved the sale of the Horace Williams satellite tract to Winmore Land Management LLC on March 28 to create a mixed-use development area.

Winmore's proposal includes building 96 University-owned and operated apartment units exclusively for UNC employees and 50 to 60 houses to be sold to employees of the town of Carrboro, UNC and UNC Hospitals. The houses will be priced from $132,000 to $175,000.

Developer Phil Szostak told The Daily Tar Heel earlier this month that while the definite price for the rental units has not yet been set, the range will be from $400 to $500 per month.

Tommy Griffin, chairman of UNC's Employee Forum, said he is encouraged that administrators are trying to create affordable housing for University employees.

But he said price levels for houses and apartments in Winmore still would be out of reach for the lowest-paid UNC workers. "They need to look at what affordable housing is," Griffin said.

Griffin said administrators should look into graduating employee housing aid according to salary. But he said the basic idea of Winmore, creating housing for University employees at all salary levels, is a good one. "I think it would be great to have a community where people of all incomes live together to see how other people live," Griffin said.

Employee Forum delegate Matt Todd, who represents facilities services, said the established price range would be hard for most individual prospective homeowners to afford.

"It's a little tough, coming from a facilities services standpoint," he said.

But Todd said the figures are reasonable for a dual-income household.

While some worry that the new housing will not be affordable to lower-income workers, some employee representatives said they would have trouble purchasing housing in any situation.

Barbara Prear, a UNC housekeeper and president of the North Carolina Public Service Union UE 150, said employees earning below the median income level would have a hard time in any housing market. "$20,000 is hard for anyone to live on anywhere," Prear said.

BOT Chairman Tim Burnett said faculty and employees must determine for themselves whether they can afford the proposed prices for the houses. "There's a range of prices, directed at incomes from moderate down to lower-end."

Burnett said factors other than personal income will determine the affordability of the houses for UNC employees, citing spousal income or whether the employee has children or outstanding debts. He said these are factors that would be considered if the employee applies for a loan to purchase one of the Winmore properties.

Bob Knight, assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration, said UNC administrators have been looking into affordable housing for years because many employees are forced to live far from campus.

In the past, he said, officials looked into working with the town of Chapel Hill to build affordable housing downtown.

Knight said that the Winmore deal should ease the problem but that the plan to build 96 apartments will not be enough. "Unfortunately, you're only talking about 100 apartments," he said. "But it's 100 more than Orange County has right now."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.