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What Is Greensboro Doing To Expand Affordable Housing?

A fire at an apartment complex in May 2018 was a wake-up call for Greensboro to address its affordable housing crisis.
David Ford / WFDD
The front entrance to Apartment G at the Summit-Cone apartment complex, where a deadly fire killed five young refugee children. This fire laid bare housing issues in Greensboro.

This summer the city of Greensboro plans to sue the 10 landlords with the highest number of housing code violations. These companies have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines owed to the city.

This action is one attempt to address Greensboro’s affordable housing problem, which Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan calls the city’s No. 1 crisis. Researchers estimate that there are about 26,000 people living in the city who pay more than 30 percent of their monthly salary for rent, which is where experts draw the line for those who are considered “rent-burdened.” 

Host Frank Stasio talks to Richard Barron, News & Record city government reporter, about the housing landscape in Greensboro, what measures the city has taken and what solutions are being discussed by community leaders.
 

Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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