F&M Bank Commercial Banker Tracie Sells and WeBuild Concord Chief Executive Officer Patrick Graham, Ph.D in front of the Lincoln Street Townhomes.
Creating Attainable Housing with Lasting Impact
Affordable housing is a worthy goal, but WeBuild Concord CEO Patrick Graham prefers to focus on attainable housing—a home that’s not only within budget today but financially viable for the long run. F&M Bank agrees, which is why we’re all in on WeBuild Concord’s plans for a more stable, more equitable community for hard-working residents.
WeBuild was initially developed by the City of Concord as a feeder into its housing division. Five years later, the non-profit’s mission has expanded substantially to include building attainable workforce housing by any legal means necessary, according to Patrick. The goal: to ensure eligible residents own or rent at only 30 percent of their income, which is a critical factor in permanent housing success.
Patrick started his career in youth programming but learned quickly that working on any social or quality-of-life issue directly intersects with safe, stable, affordable housing. He brought a deep understanding of the complexities of attainable housing to WeBuild Concord, approaching it from a talent retention perspective. “We need housing to be part of our economic development plan if we’re going to be competitive in the region,” he explains.
It’s a crucial strategy considering that Concord and Cabarrus are among the fastest growing cities in North Carolina and counties in the U.S., respectively. That sort of population surge can make an already tough housing market even tougher for people who want to live where they work.
And “work” is a key word. WeBuild Concord’s focus over the past three years has been on creating a variety of housing opportunities for working residents. Perhaps the most visible are the Lincoln Street Townhomes, a mixed-income development with 26 residences. The idea behind the mixed-income model, where some units are sold at market value while others are earmarked for attainable housing, is to unite the community. “We don’t want to segregate people based on what they earn,” Patrick says, noting that over 50 percent of attainable housing residents have careers in public service, like teachers and civil servants. “These people are underpaid and deserve to have part of the American dream.”
To ensure long-term sustainability of the WeBuild Con-cord model, the organization uses restricted covenants and community land trusts. Under deed restrictions, any resales must be to buyers in the same income range as the initial owners, whereas land trusts guarantee that the properties stay in the affordable or workforce category for 99 years. In addition to preserving attainability for the Concord community, this structure reduces the tax burden on WeBuild homeowners.
This kind of seismic change requires strong public and private partnerships—like the one with F&M Bank. Patrick says the trust built between F&M Bank and WeBuild Concord is invaluable, and he’s discovered that projects run more smoothly when backed by a local bank that’s genuinely invested in the outcome. He works closely with Commercial Banker Tracie Sells, whom he describes as a kindred spirit. “She’s someone who understands our mission and values that mission,” he says.
Tracie’s passion for WeBuild is rooted in her childhood, when staggering medical bills forced her hard-working parents out of the family home and into a tiny rental. “One day we lived in our home, and the next day we didn’t,” she recalls of the confusing time.
With a little financial assistance from her grandmother, who also lived in the small rental with Tracie’s family of five, her parents were able to purchase a home again years later. But the experience stuck with Tracie and cemented the value of having a safe, stable home. “There’s a lot of focus on pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but when you get in a situation where you have overwhelming medical debt, for example, you need some help,” she says. “That’s why the opportunity to work with WeBuild means a lot to me. I’m a big believer in community, and their ideas around a mixed socio-economic environment will be of great value to our small community.”
Unfortunately, Patrick also knows what it’s like to see a parent’s homeownership dream derailed. Much of his motivation stems from his mother, who worked diligently for more than 50 years but could never afford to buy a home. He’s still heartbroken that he couldn’t make homeownership happen for his mom, who passed a few years ago, but he channels that regret into his professional efforts. And he sees those efforts paying off in the stories of Lincoln Street Townhomes’ new residents, like the working mother who had been living in hotels with her family because she couldn’t catch up financially. Then there’s the father of three who no longer has to move his children to different apartments when rent spikes.
WeBuild was initially developed by the City of Concord as a feeder into its housing division. Five years later, the non-profit’s mission has expanded substantially to include building attainable workforce housing by any legal means necessary, according to Patrick. The goal: to ensure eligible residents own or rent at only 30 percent of their income, which is a critical factor in permanent housing success.
Patrick started his career in youth programming but learned quickly that working on any social or quality-of-life issue directly intersects with safe, stable, affordable housing. He brought a deep understanding of the complexities of attainable housing to WeBuild Concord, approaching it from a talent retention perspective. “We need housing to be part of our economic development plan if we’re going to be competitive in the region,” he explains.
It’s a crucial strategy considering that Concord and Cabarrus are among the fastest growing cities in North Carolina and counties in the U.S., respectively. That sort of population surge can make an already tough housing market even tougher for people who want to live where they work.
And “work” is a key word. WeBuild Concord’s focus over the past three years has been on creating a variety of housing opportunities for working residents. Perhaps the most visible are the Lincoln Street Townhomes, a mixed-income development with 26 residences. The idea behind the mixed-income model, where some units are sold at market value while others are earmarked for attainable housing, is to unite the community. “We don’t want to segregate people based on what they earn,” Patrick says, noting that over 50 percent of attainable housing residents have careers in public service, like teachers and civil servants. “These people are underpaid and deserve to have part of the American dream.”
To ensure long-term sustainability of the WeBuild Con-cord model, the organization uses restricted covenants and community land trusts. Under deed restrictions, any resales must be to buyers in the same income range as the initial owners, whereas land trusts guarantee that the properties stay in the affordable or workforce category for 99 years. In addition to preserving attainability for the Concord community, this structure reduces the tax burden on WeBuild homeowners.
This kind of seismic change requires strong public and private partnerships—like the one with F&M Bank. Patrick says the trust built between F&M Bank and WeBuild Concord is invaluable, and he’s discovered that projects run more smoothly when backed by a local bank that’s genuinely invested in the outcome. He works closely with Commercial Banker Tracie Sells, whom he describes as a kindred spirit. “She’s someone who understands our mission and values that mission,” he says.
Tracie’s passion for WeBuild is rooted in her childhood, when staggering medical bills forced her hard-working parents out of the family home and into a tiny rental. “One day we lived in our home, and the next day we didn’t,” she recalls of the confusing time.
With a little financial assistance from her grandmother, who also lived in the small rental with Tracie’s family of five, her parents were able to purchase a home again years later. But the experience stuck with Tracie and cemented the value of having a safe, stable home. “There’s a lot of focus on pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but when you get in a situation where you have overwhelming medical debt, for example, you need some help,” she says. “That’s why the opportunity to work with WeBuild means a lot to me. I’m a big believer in community, and their ideas around a mixed socio-economic environment will be of great value to our small community.”
Unfortunately, Patrick also knows what it’s like to see a parent’s homeownership dream derailed. Much of his motivation stems from his mother, who worked diligently for more than 50 years but could never afford to buy a home. He’s still heartbroken that he couldn’t make homeownership happen for his mom, who passed a few years ago, but he channels that regret into his professional efforts. And he sees those efforts paying off in the stories of Lincoln Street Townhomes’ new residents, like the working mother who had been living in hotels with her family because she couldn’t catch up financially. Then there’s the father of three who no longer has to move his children to different apartments when rent spikes.
One spoke of the attainable housing wheel is creating long-term economic stability. That’s why WeBuild Concord, working with community partners, provides financial counseling to every participant. The goal is to help residents not only manage their current financial situation, but to help them increase their income and/or foster career development to future-proof their finances and create generational wealth. “Having the ability to influence your children in thinking about homeownership from the beginning—when it becomes part of their natural trajectory—that’s a beautiful thing,” Patrick says.
Tracie is fully on board with that. Literally. She’s become so dedicated to WeBuild’s mission that she joined their board of directors. It’s a move Patrick welcomes. “When I think about Tracie and F&M Bank, our board and our residents…what we have in common is that we want to live in better neighborhoods and we want to make them strong,” he says. “With so much emphasis on what’s going wrong in the world, I want everyone to know that there are still really good people fighting to do what’s right.”
Tracie is fully on board with that. Literally. She’s become so dedicated to WeBuild’s mission that she joined their board of directors. It’s a move Patrick welcomes. “When I think about Tracie and F&M Bank, our board and our residents…what we have in common is that we want to live in better neighborhoods and we want to make them strong,” he says. “With so much emphasis on what’s going wrong in the world, I want everyone to know that there are still really good people fighting to do what’s right.”