Forsyth County’s housing system is not merely a stock of units; it is an institutional architecture that organizes mobility, opportunity, and risk. Part 2 of the Humane Housing Network’s “Current Landscape” advances a pragmatic frame of Prevention, Preservation, and Production mapped onto a pathway from Urgency to Stability, Permanence, and Thriving, with the aim of moving households efficiently to the “right unit, with the right supports, at the right time.”
The findings are stark. Recent indicators show 10,516 eviction filings (2024), 627 people counted homeless (about one-third unsheltered), just 416 emergency beds plus 34 transitional beds (a ≈200-bed gap), and a projected 25,000-unit shortfall by 2029. The rent–wage gap persists: a 2-BR FMR of $1,163 requires $22.37/hour while the average renter earns ~$15.20/hour. These data are not abstract; they describe the everyday frictions that push families into precarity.
Community input, via convenings, breakout sessions, interviews, and an asset survey, translates those frictions into implementable moves. On the emergency end: expand women’s beds, create a warming center and medical respite, de-clog voucher lease-ups, and deploy flexible emergency rental subsidy funds. Administratively: streamline to a “one-door” intake, expedite inspections, and stabilize the workforce that keeps the system functioning. On supply: normalize gentle density (ADUs, duplex–fourplex) where infrastructure exists; address process and soft-cost barriers; and pair land tools (land banking, public-land reuse, CLTs) with local gap financing and developer capacity-building to “make the math math.”
Finally, the presentation links strategy to governance: resident power (a paid leadership council), cross-sector accountability, and a countywide action workshop to select near-term priorities and assign owners, budgets, and milestones. The emphasis is on execution by turning a decade of studies into measurable reductions in displacement and durable pathways to affordability.
Next Gathering – Dec. 4, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Forsyth County Public Library
In this hands-on workshop, network members will translate findings into strategies for Forsyth County’s Humane Housing Plan, identify priorities, solutions, and next steps toward a community where everyone has a safe, stable place to call home.
Innovative Research Insights 