Housing Strategy 2026-27

The City of Winston-Salem, Office of Housing Development, seeks proposals from qualified organizations, and individuals, to develop a comprehensive Neighborhood Housing Strategy that places residents at the center of identifying housing challenges and creating neighborhood-specific solutions. Qualified firms, partnerships, corporations, associations, persons or professional organizations (collectively, “Respondents”) are invited to respond to this Request for Proposal (“RFP”) to develop a comprehensive Affordable Housing Strategy (“Plan”) for the City.

The selected consultant shall develop a comprehensive strategy that expands affordable housing opportunities, stabilizes vulnerable neighborhoods, supports first-time homeownership, preserves existing affordable housing, promotes equitable development, creates pathways to household wealth creation, utilizes city-owned land strategically, and encourages resident-informed decision making.

Phase 1 — Community Outreach and Engagement

The consultant will conduct a comprehensive engagement program that includes neighborhood workshops, community conversations, door hangers, focus groups, stakeholder interviews, online and paper surveys, and pop-up engagement events, and will advocate for a City Affordable Housing Bond in 2028. [...] **Required** Outreach – hold a minimum of one public meeting in each of the 8 City Wards.

Phase 2 — Focused Housing Needs Assessment

This phase covers all of Winston Salem with an emphasis on East Winston, Boston Thurmond, Happy Hill, Waughtown, Alspaugh, Guthrie, Motor Road, Carver School, and surrounding areas. The assessment will evaluate housing affordability, housing availability, cost burden, homeownership rates, housing supply gaps through all income bands, neighborhood conditions, land availability (city and other vacant parcels), and development constraints.

Phase 3 — Neighborhood Housing Strategy

Develop recommendations in four focus areas:

• Homeownership: Community Land Trusts, infill housing, development assistance, shared equity models, and workforce housing.
• Rental Housing: Affordable rental production, preservation strategies, supportive housing, and mixed-income developments.
• Neighborhood Revitalization: Vacant city property reuse (types of development), small-scale development programs, infrastructure investments, and public-private partnerships.
• Wealth Building: Asset-building initiatives, minority developer support, small contractor opportunities, and housing entrepreneurship programs.

Phase 4 — Implementation Plan

Provide a five-year action plan, a funding strategy, identify priority projects, establish performance metrics, and create an annual reporting framework.

Deliverables

The project will yield a Resident Engagement Plan, Housing Needs Assessment by Neighborhood (street level preferred), Neighborhood Profiles and Maps, Draft Housing Strategy, Final Housing Strategy, Five-Year Implementation Plan, and a presentation to the Affordable Housing Coalition, the General Government Committee, and City Council.

Please submit your proposal as a single PDF file with subject line of “Proposal for Neighborhood Housing Strategy” to bids@cityofws.org

**Submission deadline: NOVEMBER 10, 2026 at 4:00 P.M.** Proposals will not be accepted after the deadline.

A preliminary Statement of Interest is requested by October 29, 2026 to receive addenda (if any). Please email Statement of Interest to Michael Blair at michaelbl@cityofws.org.

The maximum page count is 50 pages.

Proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

| Criterion | Weight |
| --- | --- |
| Proposed Detailed Work Plan and Schedule | 20% |
| Resident Engagement Approach | 25% |
| Affordable Housing Experience | 25% |
| Team Qualifications | 15% |
| Proposed Cost | 15% |

The selection committee will rank proposals and may invite up to 3 of the top-ranking consultant teams to an interview. The successful consultant will be required to execute a Service Agreement with the City and meet the insurance requirements therein.