It’s Tuesday, April 30.

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Good morning, readers. 

You don’t need a journalist to tell you that the country is in a bleak spot when it comes to housing. 

Pew recently estimated a shortfall of between four and seven million homes. And the available homes are more expensive than ever: Half of renters spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent, and a quarter of renters spend more than 50 percent.

Chapel Hill has been slowly working to increase the available supply of affordable housing. Last year, the council approved the construction of St. Paul Village, a community of 350 units near Rogers Road. 

And last month, the council approved Longleaf Trace, an affordable development of 48 units for people 55 and older, to be built next to the town’s property on Legion Road. For a family of two, the income limit will be roughly $48,000.

This was not the first time Taft-Mills Group, the developer, has been before the council—they’re also building affordable housing on Jay Street. The Legion Road project, like most of its kind, faced questions about a dull facade, stormwater runoff, and the impact on the homeowners already in the neighborhood. 

The approval comes on the heels of the town’s affordable development plan and investment strategy, approved last year, and in the midst of conversations about a possible bond referendum, which would include money for affordable housing, on the ballot in November.

If we need seven million more units nationwide, these 48 units are barely a drop in the ocean. 

But, as the author David Mitchell wrote, what is any ocean but a multitude of drops? 

Have a good Tuesday.

—Chase

Durham

Triangle artist Dare Coulter is working on a mural for the Wheels Roller Skating Rink which is expected to reopen in the fall.  


Two new tenants, a pizza chain and a pilates studio, are coming to Durham’s Brightleaf Square.

Wake

A proposal to add three more district seats to Raleigh’s city council could go before voters in the fall, but some say the proposal needs more study. The city will host an election reform engagement workshop at Chavis Park Community Center Wednesday for the public to weigh in on this and other election proposals.

Orange

A Gaza solidarity encampment continued on UNC’s campus for the third day, but police arrested approximately 30 protesters early Tuesday morning.

North Carolina

Four officers were killed and four others were injured in a shooting in east Charlotte while trying to serve a warrant.

Today’s weather

Partly cloudy with a high of 85 degrees.

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