As Wake County considers raising property taxes again this year, a group of Southeast Raleigh activists is advocating for more widespread tax relief for longtime Black and brown homeowners.
The Wake County Property Tax Justice Working Group, created in 2024, is a coalition of local neighborhood associations, affordable housing nonprofits, civil rights groups like the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, and community groups like Men of Southeast Raleigh. Together, they help longtime Black and brown homeowners deal with property tax bills that are skyrocketing because of gentrification.
Wake County’s 2020 and 2024 revaluations resulted in higher tax bills for many homeowners, but, in 2020, some of the largest increases were seen in historically Black neighborhoods in Southeast Raleigh (compared to their previous values), according to an analysis by Habitat for Humanity…