1. Neighborhood Stabilization & Revitalization in Rural Communities
NCLM 2016
9/25/2016
Neighborhood Stabilization & Revitalization in Rural Communities
Marcia Perritt, Project Manager
UNC-CH SOG Development Finance Initiative
North Carolina Affordable Housing Conference
Keeping Rural Communities on the Map with Affordable Housing
October 25th, 2017

2. The Development Finance Initiative (DFI)
NCLM 2016
9/25/2016
The Development Finance Initiative (DFI)
at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government partners with local and State government to attract private investment for transformative projects by providing specialized finance and development expertise.
Do we want to include more information here? List of staff, associated faculty, and/or areas of expertise?

3. DFI’s Areas of Expertise
Building reuse and downtown revitalization 
Master planning and execution 
Community and neighborhood development
DFI’s Services
Urban Redevelopment Area
Pre-Development
Opportunity Site Identification
Advise on:
Public-Private Partnerships
District Designations
Neighborhood revitalization strategy

4. what we were submitting we would get a lot of support for.”
DFI’s Services
Pre-Development
“DFI did a lot of the legwork … got a lot of the questions answered so there weren’t a lot of wild cards in entitlement. They had it all teed up … so we felt like
what we were submitting we would get a lot of support for.”

5. DFI’s Services
Pre-Development
Opportunity Site Identification

6. DFI’s Services Pre-Development Opportunity Site Identification
Public-Private Partnership

7. DFI Projects

8. DFI’s Services Pre-Development Opportunity Site Identification
Public-Private Partnership
District Designations
Neighborhood Stabilization & Revitalization
Urban Redevelopment Area
Municipal Service District

9. Symptoms of Neighborhood Decline
Vacancy
Blight
Perception
Disinvestment

10. Rise of Suburbia Population Loss Absentee Ownership Economic Shifts
Limited Resources
Vacancy
Blight
Crime
Disinvestment
Inequality
Heirs’ Property
Poverty

11. Case Study: Mitchelltown in Kinston, NC
25% vacant
25% distress
Perception of high crime
Code enforcement violations
Demolition of historic structures
Visible from downtown
Adjacent to river
Private investor interest
Lack of confidence

12. Case Study: Mitchelltown in Kinston, NC
City & Residents’ Goals:
Reduce blight, vacancy, and crime
Preserve historic structures
City Goals:
Facilitate private investment
Make strategic public investments
Increase owner-occupancy

13. Long-term Goals for Mitchelltown
Make neighborhood into an arts & cultural “destination”
Catalyze reuse of historic mill and power plant

14. Developing a Strategy for Neighborhood Intervention
Use data and mapping to understand conditions, challenge perceptions, and inform your strategy.
Reflect on neighborhood/community assets, build on them.
Identify silos, communication gaps, and areas where ”the system” isn’t working effectively.
Elected officials, staff, developers / investors, and residents should work closely together.
Start small and strategically – one block at a time.

15. Data Inputs
Tax Parcel Data
Register of Deeds
Sales data
NC Sec of State Corps
Crime
Code Enforcement
Utility Accounts
Historical records
+ Parcel-by-Parcel Field Inventory

23. City & Residents’ Goals: Reduce blight, vacancy, and crime
Preserve historic structures
Established Urban Redevelopment Area (URA), engaged neighborhood residents and support for strategy
City uses its existing powers – tax foreclosure, repair liens, code enforcement – to address problem properties, starting with micro-areas
URA allowed more tools to deal with “problem” properties and facilitate preservation

24. City Goals:
Facilitate private investment
Make strategic public investments
Increase owner-occupancy
Parcel inventory very helpful in informing micro neighborhood planning efforts
Investors acquire and rehab 35+ formerly vacant homes
Some long-term owners started making improvements
City invests in sidewalks, streetlights, Riverwalk, and supports public art installations

25. Long-term Goals:
Make neighborhood into an arts & cultural “destination”
Catalyze reuse of historic mill and power plant
URA and public/private investments send market signal that area is being redeveloped
Zoning Overlay to allow for artist live/work space
Power plant is acquired from City by non-local developer
City acquires mill, in negotiation with private developer

26. Developing a Strategy for Neighborhood Intervention
Use data and mapping to understand conditions, challenge perceptions, and inform your strategy.
Reflect on neighborhood/community assets, build on them.
Identify silos, communication gaps, and areas where ”the system” isn’t working effectively.
Elected officials, staff, developers / investors, and residents should work closely together.
Start small and strategically – one block at a time.

27. Marcia Perritt mperritt@sog.unc.edu www.sog.unc.edu/dfi