NC HB 765 Falls Short in Saving the American Dream

North Carolina’s House Bill 765, “Save the American Dream Act,” is being framed as a bold step toward solving our housing crisis. I’m all for some of what it proposes: Increased density, expedited permitting, and eliminating parking minimums are smart, long overdue reforms.

However, the bill significantly limits local authority over development regulations, and while that may speed up permitting and unit production, it does little to ensure that the housing that gets built is actually affordable or accessible to the people most affected by the housing crisis. There are no incentives for affordable housing, no protections against displacement, and no mechanisms to ensure that increased density translates into more equitable housing outcomes. 

What worries me most is how this bill could widen the affordable housing gap. It fast-tracks development in a way that favors large, for-profit developers while ignoring the structural barriers that communities of color and low-income households already face. And ironically, it may even give NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) voices more legal tools to oppose inclusive zoning efforts or equitable planning practices under the guise of “local input.”

While the HB 765 deregulatory move may produce more overall housing units, those units likely won’t represent the kind of housing our communities actually need — for the people who need them. It streamlines development without requiring a single unit of affordable housing. It makes it easier for large, for-profit developers to build — but not necessarily for working families or vulnerable populations to live.

It also weakens local authority in ways that could make equity-focused planning even harder. Communities trying to prioritize affordable units, environmental safeguards, or inclusive growth may now find themselves outmaneuvered by NIMBY resistance or stripped of the zoning tools needed to protect their most vulnerable and at-risk residents.

HB 765 could be more effective if it focused on growth and inclusivity. The legislature can incentivize affordable housing without affecting developers' bottom lines by employing tools like tax credits (with significant nonprofit carve outs!), density bonuses tied to income-restricted units, and state-level gap financing for nonprofit and mission-driven developers. The bill should also include provisions for anti-displacement strategies like community land trusts, tenant protections, and “first-look” programs for local housing authorities or nonprofit developers and land-banks. This will ensure that the new housing it facilitates is affordable, impacts historically disenfranchised communities, and provides measurable and consistent positive outcomes for all of our neighbors.

The existing version of HB 765 isn’t how we close the housing gap. If we want to expand access to housing, we need policies that balance speed with fairness and density with affordability. We can and should grow, but we must do it equitably, or we’ll just deepen the very crisis we’re trying to solve. Smart growth must be inclusive growth.