ForEveryoneHome

In 2019, Winston-Salem began working with Grounded Solutions Network to find innovative ways to promote and preserve affordable, inclusive housing for lower-income residents and preserve existing affordable housing that is at risk of being lost. Grounded Solutions Network, a national housing advocacy group, selected Winston-Salem as one of three cities in the nation to participate in the pilot project for its “ForEveryoneHome: City Solutions for Housing Equity” initiative.       

Over the past two years a team of city officials and community representatives, working with Grounded Solutions Network, has conducted a needs assessment to identify current and emerging housing challenges, developed policy proposals to address these challenges, and put together a detailed plan of immediate steps the city can take to prevent displacement and promote inclusive, affordable housing.

These recommendations include creating an affordable housing trust fund, changing zoning law to allow more flexible housing options, establishing a land bank to counter gentrification pressures and developing an eviction prevention plan. These and other recommendations are explored in detail in a report titled “Winston-Salem Anti-Displacement and Inclusive Growth Policy Agenda,” linked below.

The team also produced a roadmap to implement select recommendations in a companion report, “Winston-Salem Land Banking and Lasting Affordability Action Plan,” also linked below.

The policy agenda and action plan were adopted by the City Council in June 2021. The Affordable Housing Coalition – a commission established by the City Council to recommend strategies to meet Winston-Salem’s affordable housing needs – will incorporate the items into the multi-year housing plan it is developing.

Funding to implement the For Everyone Home recommendations will come from a portion of the 2018 housing bonds that was set aside for the initiative.

Winston-Salem Anti-Displacement and Inclusive Growth Policy Agenda

Winston-Salem Land Banking and Lasting Affordability Action Plan