Raleigh mayor addresses housing affordability, public safety in State of the City address

Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell touted the progress the city has made in affordable housing during her second annual state of the city address on Wednesday, but some residents say not enough is being done.

Housing affordability has become a hot topic as the city's population has grown by tens of thousands of people over the past six years.

“We do not want people's dreams to be deferred, and we want them to be able to afford to get into that first apartment, to buy that house," Cowell said during her speech.

In Cowell's 2025 address, she said Raleigh's rent went up by 56% from 2022. In the 2026 speech, she says rent has gone down 10%. Income needed to afford a home doubled in two years. Cowell said the council approved more than a dozen housing projects, including affordable units, in early 2025. 

The city set a goal back in 2016 to build 5,700 affordable homes by 2026. In February 2025, it said it had created and preserved 3,848 affordable homes with more incoming. 

Some city residents told WRAL News housing affordability still has ways to go. 

“I feel like they pushed us out, and they promised us that we would have a way back," said Justin Page, who lived in Raleigh's affordable housing. "They promised us that they would revitalize the neighborhoods. They’ve done that, but they did not allow us a way to come back.”

Although Cowell said rent is down 10%, Page said that is still a price that many of the city's residents struggle to afford. He said he, and many of his neighbors, were priced out of their affordable housing homes. 

Others in the audience told WRAL they wish that more people from their communities, who would actually benefit from affordable housing, were in attendance. 

“Where are the people of color, where are the younger people, where are the single families that need to be able to access the type of supposed affordable housing that they have created? Where are they here," said McKenzie BP, a Raleigh resident. 

City saw a decline in crime

Crime and safety were also key matters Cowell discussed during Wednesday's address.  

Violent crime in the city has gone down by 1% in 2025 compared to the year before. Property crime decreased by 17%, according to the Raleigh Police Department's 2025 Annual Crime Data. 

However, a recent high-profile case pushed city leaders to take action. 

In January, Ravenscroft teacher Zoe Welsh was murdered in her home on Clay Street. Ryan Camacho is accused of breaking in and killing her.

Court documents show he had a 20-year criminal history and documented mental health struggles. Raleigh police say he was likely living in Fletcher Park at the time. 

Cowell told WRAL News in January she would speak with lawmakers and work on ways in the city to help prevent a crime like this from happening again. 

WRAL News reached back out to the mayor's office in early March. She said she is working on expanding housing solutions for the unsheltered. The city is also moving forward with an affordable housing bond. 

"She also continues to monitor federal funding for substance use programs, which, along with housing, is critical in preventing crimes like this," the mayor's office said in a statement to WRAL News. 

The mayor's office added that Cowell is in talks with legislators as they inch closer to the session in April.