Wake County
HR&A has guided Wake County’s affordable housing strategy since 2017, supporting creation of a $61.6 million preservation fund, implementing the Affordable Housing Development Program providing gap financing, and designing the House Wake! Eviction Prevention Program helping over 3,000 households remain in their homes. Our sustained partnership positioned the County to deploy strategic funding interventions addressing preservation, production, and housing stability.
Building on Wake County’s Affordable Housing Plan, HR&A conducted feasibility analysis of several fund products to preserve affordability, determined market need, and evaluated best practices from successful funds across the United States. After building internal consensus on fund products, we drafted a Request for Proposals for respondents to administer and leverage the County’s $10.5 million into a larger preservation fund. We evaluated RFP responses and supported negotiations for a fund administrator. The County partnered with Self-Help Ventures Fund and the City of Raleigh to launch the $61.6 million fund in October 2022. For the Affordable Housing Development Program, HR&A evaluated six applications in the 2022 funding round and ten in 2024, interviewing applicants and negotiating best and final offers based on detailed development budget and cash flow review, resulting in funding recommendations to the Wake County Board of Commissioners.
HR&A also evaluated COVID-19’s housing impact in Wake County to estimate need for emergency housing assistance and understand which residents faced greatest impacts. We supported program design for the House Wake! Eviction Prevention Program, which includes financial assistance to tenants and landlords, eviction mediation services, and relocation assistance as part of a three-step intervention pairing public assistance with rent forgiveness and legal services for tenants facing eviction. Through these interventions, the County estimates the program will help keep more than 3,000 households in their homes, demonstrating how comprehensive implementation support can transform planning into concrete programs delivering measurable community impact.
