RALEIGH, N.C. — More than 75 residents gathered June 4 at the Tarboro Road Community Center for a Livable Raleigh forum on the city’s affordable housing crisis, where five longtime community leaders shared recommendations for addressing displacement and preserving affordable communities. The panel featured historian and author Carmen Cauthen, community advocate Wanda Hunter, Raleigh Planning Commission member Tolulope Omokaiye, fair housing advocate Octavia Rainey, and attorney and Wake Housing Authority Chair Yolanda Taylor.
Among the ideas discussed were increasing public investment in affordable housing, requiring greater participation from developers, preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, supporting community land trusts, protecting vulnerable homeowners from displacement, and ensuring that growth is shared equitably throughout the city.
Taylor praised Livable Raleigh for bringing together voices that are often absent from housing discussions. “I want to thank Livable Raleigh for elevating the expertise, the credibility, and the lived experiences of Black women,” Taylor said. “If you ground the policies of those who are most oppressed in society, you lift everyone else up.” Taylor urged policymakers to look to history when crafting solutions. “History is the blueprint,” she said. “The housing crisis is not simply a question of how much we build. It’s also a question of who we choose to protect while we build.”
Cauthen traced current housing inequities to policies dating back generations and called for viewing housing as a basic human need. “We need housing,” Cauthen said. “People should not have to find a camp. They should not have to find a place where they’re living in the woods close to a creek because you’ve got to have water to live.”
Hunter emphasized that housing insecurity has long affected Southeast Raleigh and said lasting change will require a sustained commitment from community leaders and institutions.
Omokaiye called for stronger protections for existing affordable neighborhoods and a citywide approach to managing growth, while Rainey urged Raleigh to examine the long-term impacts of redevelopment policies on historically Black communities.
Throughout the evening, panelists emphasized that solving Raleigh’s housing challenges will require more than increasing supply. They called for intentional policies that preserve communities and ensure that those most affected by growth have a meaningful voice in shaping the city’s future.
Livable Raleigh member Russ Stephenson said the group organized the forum because those most affected by Raleigh’s growth often lack the resources to amplify their concerns. “Those who benefit most from Raleigh’s growth have the resources to promote their points of view widely, while those impacted the most do not,” Stephenson said.
Watch the video below
Video and slides from this and all our past events are available on the “Community Conversations” section of our “Resources” page here: https://livableraleigh.com/resources/
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