The Canopy Housing Foundation continued its longstanding commitment to the communities it serves by giving away more than $25,000 in grants and scholarships to local nonprofits and students at an event in Waynesville on July 23. 

A recent multimillion-dollar court settlement involving realtor commissions has left many unanswered questions in the real estate industry, especially when it comes to who will benefit and who will be disadvantaged. Those answers will indeed come in time, but for now, at least one thing is clear — and those who say the settlement is key to ending the affordable housing crisis in the United States aren’t going to be happy.

When Haywood-area Realtors merged with their Charlotte counterparts earlier this year to create the Canopy Realtors Association, one big reason was the opportunity to dispense charitable support that would address unmet housing and educational needs. 

The affordable housing crisis in Western North Carolina isn’t anything new, but it is entering a dangerous new phase due to ever-increasing home values, limited supply and a red-hot real estate market that has refused to use the Coronavirus Pandemic as an excuse to cool down.