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With Rezoning Approval For Downtown South, Affordable Housing In Raleigh Remains A Concern

Kane Realty/Gensler

This week the Raleigh City Council approved rezoning for Downtown South, a $2.2 billion development project that will bring shops, housing and a soccer stadium to southeast Raleigh. The space was previously zoned as an industrial district. Downtown South’s mixed-use zoning clearance is just an early step in the project’s progress.

As developers move forward, activists continue to express concern that the new space will displace the few residents left who have been able to retain affordable housing in southeast Raleigh. Since developers will need to appeal to the City Council for public funding and tax incentives, some believe local government may be able to insist that developers include more affordable housing plans in their building proposal. Host Anita Rao talks to WUNC data reporter Jason DeBruyn about this most recent in a string of developments that have led to gentrification in urban communities statewide. 

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.
Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.
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