As Wake County considers raising property taxes again this year, a group of Southeast Raleigh activists is advocating for more widespread tax relief for longtime Black and brown homeowners.
The Wake County Property Tax Justice Working Group, created in 2024, is a coalition of local neighborhood associations, affordable housing nonprofits, civil rights groups like the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, and community groups like Men of Southeast Raleigh. Together, they help longtime Black and brown homeowners deal with property tax bills that are skyrocketing because of gentrification.
Wake County’s 2020 and 2024 revaluations resulted in higher tax bills for many homeowners, but, in 2020, some of the largest increases were seen in historically Black neighborhoods in Southeast Raleigh (compared to their previous values), according to an analysis by Habitat for Humanity.
“Black families often have their homes undervalued when they want to sell or refinance, but get overassessed by the tax office,” Rob Stephens, chair of the social action committee for Men of Southeast Raleigh, said during a virtual town hall on May 14.
“What we’re seeing in gentrifying Black neighborhoods is that the tax value is ahead of the actual value. Black folks are subsidizing gentrification, fundamentally.”
In one Southeast Raleigh neighborhood, for example, an investor-owned home that was purchased and flipped in 2022 was assessed at around $226,000, according to a presentation from the coalition. Across the street, a Black homeowner’s much smaller house was assessed at around $260,000—about 15% higher. Ultimately, she couldn’t afford the property tax bill.
“What was tragic was … this woman came up just furious, because this was her family home that they lost because of overdue property taxes,” Stephens recalled. “Now, at one point, it served as an AirBnB.”
Last year, the coalition’s research prompted the county tax office to re-evaluate and reduce tax bills for nearly 600 properties across six historically Black neighborhoods downtown. Altogether, the coalition saved nearly 700 residents some $500,000 in property taxes in 2024 and 2025, the coalition reported.
Now, as the next revaluation approaches in 2027, the coalition is asking Wake County to create a property tax relief program that would help longtime homeowners. While there are already three state programs Wake County residents can access for tax relief, they are limited to homeowners who are disabled (including veterans) or 65 or older.
“A family who is severely cost-burdened can’t get any help if they’re not one of these two things,” Hudson Vaughan, director of the Community Justice Collaborative for the NC Housing Coalition, said during the virtual town hall.
Two of the state programs are also income-limited, meaning they’re only open to homeowners who make below a certain amount of money per year. Those income limits don’t vary by county, so a smaller percentage of homeowners in Wake County qualify, compared to lower-income rural counties, said Vaughan.
Of the “cost-burdened elders” in Wake County, about 74% don’t qualify for state tax relief, according to Vaughan.
The working group is asking Wake County to create a local tax relief program that addresses these and other gaps, similar to programs in Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties. Durham’s program, for example, offers tax breaks to residents who have owned and occupied their home for at least five years, and who make at or below 80% of the area median income.
While the Wake County tax office has done a good job partnering with neighborhoods and addressing property tax equity issues, “the lack of a local tax relief program presents a real gap,” said Stephens.
Coalition leaders said they are already working directly with the Wake County Tax Administration to address inequities, including through access to property tax appeals for lower wealth communities. Several county commissioners also attended the virtual town hall to hear the coalition’s recommendations.
The coalition is encouraging homeowners and other people concerned with property tax hikes to make public comments in favor of a local tax relief program at meetings of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, as they finalize this year’s budget.
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