AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n For 69\u2011year\u2011old Candelario Ocampo Fuentes, The Pointe at Midtown<\/a> has been home for more than 15 years.<\/p>\n Read more It took 60 years to name this rare NC fish. Now the state can act to save it.<\/a><\/p>\n Tucked behind the glass towers of Raleigh\u2019s North Hills, the 1960s garden\u2011style complex is where he raised four children, worked long shifts in the kitchen at Mami Nora\u2019s<\/a>, and built a life in a city that has grown around him.<\/p>\n Now he is quietly packing up. A nonrenewal notice arrived in February, giving him until next spring to leave \u2014 one of hundreds of residents who will be displaced as the 365\u2011unit complex at 835 Navaho Drive, known to neighbors as \u201cLos Navaho,\u201d is cleared for redevelopment.<\/p>\n Over the next few years, the property \u2014 one of Midtown\u2019s last pockets of low\u2011cost housing \u2014 will be emptied and demolished to make way for a sweeping 28-acre expansion on Navaho Drive along I-440. The development is led by Kane Realty<\/a>, which is behind much of North Hills\u2019 recent transformation. Plans released in May<\/a> call for more than 1,200 new homes, along with office towers, trails and retail, in what would be the largest addition yet to the North Hills Innovation District<\/a>.<\/p>\n On a recent Tuesday morning, Ocampo Fuentes stood on the small stoop outside his three\u2011bedroom unit, where he tends potted sunflowers and keeps two blue\u2011feathered parakeets. He spoke calmly about the move he knows is coming.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat can we do?\u201d he said in Spanish. \u201cThe owners have their investments. The ones who have, have \u2014 and those of us who don\u2019t, don\u2019t. We find our place, little by little, wherever we can.\u201d<\/p>\n The complex\u2019s more than 40 buildings will be \u201cde\u2011leased\u201d in phases \u2014 allowing leases to expire without renewal, said Kane spokesperson Michaella Murphy<\/a>. Residents were given more than a year\u2019s notice, \u201cexceeding the city\u2019s 180\u2011day requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n Leases may be extended through March 31, 2027, at current rates, and some residents may transfer to units with later end dates, depending on availability.<\/p>\n The first leases expire in less than a year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize The Pointe is home to a community,\u201d Murphy said, adding the firm has installed a support program to \u201cease the transition and minimize the disruption.\u201d It\u2019s offering one-on-one help for residents facing relocation, including a dedicated support manager, guidance on housing options, referrals to local agencies, and limited financial relief such as application\u2011fee assistance and waived early\u2011termination or short\u2011term lease fees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re committed to clear communication and supporting residents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But the phased teardown of The Pointe underscores a broader tension in Raleigh\u2019s housing landscape: Even as the city leans on upzoning, density bonuses and \u201cmissing middle\u201d reforms<\/a> to address a worsening shortage, older \u201cnaturally occurring affordable housing,\u201d or NOAH, is disappearing far faster than it can be replaced. Housing advocates warn losing NOAH means higher rents, fewer options for working families, and more displacement.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a Triangle-wide problem, though the pattern varies by city. Chapel Hill has already lost most of its NOAH, a result of decades of high land costs and limited supply. Durham still has older garden\u2011style apartments, but they\u2019re rapidly being renovated, repriced or redeveloped<\/a> as rents climb and demand<\/a> surges.<\/p>\n Before de\u2011leasing began, rents at The Pointe typically ranged from the low $900s for a one\u2011bedroom to the mid\u2011$1,500s for a three\u2011bedroom \u2014 well below today\u2019s market and firmly in the naturally affordable category.<\/p>\n Ocampo Fuentes knows it won\u2019t be easy to find a new home. He\u2019s focused on helping his 20\u2011year\u2011old son find somewhere to live and moving his wife into a trailer across town. After that, he plans to leave Raleigh \u2014 and the United States \u2014 for good, returning to his native Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me here, right now, there aren\u2019t many opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m getting by with my savings and help from my children. I just want my youngest son to get settled and on his feet.\u201d<\/p>\n Between 2017 and 2022, median rents in Raleigh climbed 37%, according to American Community Survey<\/a> (ACS) data used in the city\u2019s 2025 Affordable Housing Plan.<\/a> Meanwhile, the share of rentals under $1,000 collapsed from 55% in 2016 to 10% in 2024.<\/p>\n In eight years, Raleigh lost roughly 35,000 naturally affordable units.<\/p>\n Intensifying pressure on the remaining stock: Raleigh adds 10,000 new residents a year, outpacing housing production. Older multifamily buildings are being demolished or repositioned, while most new units enter the market at $1,600 and above \u2014 far out of reach for many working families. Rents at Kane Realty\u2019s North Hills apartments usually run from about $1,700 for a one\u2011bedroom to well over $4,000 for larger units, reflecting the district\u2019s luxury, high\u2011amenity market.<\/p>\n The result is a structural affordability crisis that disproportionately affects Black and Latino households.<\/p>\n Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell says she\u2019s working for a better outcome but acknowledged the strain.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the cost of housing, I understand the frustration at seeing NOAH units lost,\u201d she said in an email. But the city and other metros like Durham and Chapel Hill have \u201climited tools to prevent the loss of these units, or to help those who are forced to move when the units are redeveloped,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Among the top reasons: North Carolina is a Dillon\u2019s Rule state<\/a>, meaning cities can exercise only powers explicitly granted by the state legislature. As a result, Triangle metros cannot require developers to include affordable units as a condition of rezoning \u2014 even when older affordable housing is being demolished.<\/p>\n Read more 200+ cases of cyclospora parasite reported in Wake & Durham Co. Latest updates<\/a><\/p>\n Relocation assistance is available for residents in subsidized housing, such as Raleigh Housing Authority<\/a> or DHIC<\/a> communities. But for most renters, Cowell said, \u201cthat level of responsibility and obligation does not exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Raleigh has invested in preservation efforts, including a home\u2011rehabilitation program for longtime owners and a $4 million contribution to the Wake County Affordable Housing Preservation Fund<\/a>, part of a $62 million initiative to preserve 3,000 units over 15 years.<\/p>\n The city also recently approved<\/a> placing a $203 million bond referendum on the November ballot \u2014 a package split evenly between affordable housing and transportation improvements.<\/b><\/p>\n City leaders stressed that the bond wouldn\u2019t require a tax increase, a point chief financial officer Allison Bradsher called the city\u2019s \u201csteady state\u201d approach<\/a>.<\/p>\n But for many resident\u2011led opposition groups, these measures fall short.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen [these residents] are evicted, who is going to help them find a new place to live?\u201d asked Randy Jones, 69, a retired asset manager who founded Midtown Neighbors United<\/a>, a group pushing back against rapid redevelopment.<\/p>\n \u201cThese blameless folks [will] be forced to scramble to find affordable housing in an increasingly unaffordable market. That\u2019s cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n Stef Mendell, founder of Livable Raleigh<\/a>, an all\u2011volunteer advocacy group, argues that the city\u2019s reliance on \u201csupply\u2011side strategies\u201d \u2014 the idea that adding more housing of any type will ease overall costs \u2014 has not delivered affordability.<\/p>\n