CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte City Council is looking to fill the gap in the lack of affordable housing in the Queen City. Several initiatives were approved in its latest meeting in hopes of addressing the crisis.
During the April 24 city council meeting, a pilot program was approved to support the production of affordable housing developments throughout the city, encouraging developers to be more inclusive in their projects.
The program aims to incentivize developers to include affordable units when building market-rate housing. The $1.5 million plan would provide reimbursement grants to developers who incorporate affordable housing units.
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Some of the qualifications for the pilot program include requiring 20% of the housing units in the development to be affordable to households who make well below the median income.
This offers another tool in our tool kit in order to enable more affordable housing," Councilwoman and Chair of the Housing Committee Victoria Watlington said.
However, not every council member was on board.
"I think this is literally giving a hand out to developers," Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston argued.
Plus, leaders signed off on more than $23 million that will go toward building more affordable housing across the Charlotte area. The money from the city's "housing trust fund" will help pay for eight affordable housing projects, creating 582 affordable rental units and 43 affordable homes for sale.
The units are offered to mixed income levels, meaning the prices will depend on how much the applicant makes a year.
These are the eight projects that are receiving the latest round of city funding:
- Union at Tryon by The Annex Group
- The Vue at Honeywood by Halcon Development and Trinity Housing Development
- Evoke Living at Ballantyne by CSE Communities and Freedom Communities
- Long Creek Senior Apartments by Graycliff Capital Affordable Housing
- Marvin Road Apartments by Dreamkey Partners
- River District Apartments by Laurel Street
- Townhomes for sale: Aveline Townhomes at Orange Street by Dreamkey Partners
- Houses for sale: Hope Springs subdivision by Habitat for Humanity
Councilman Tariq Bokhari voted against funding the projects to point out they're not nearly enough to make a difference in the thousands of units needed to address the lack of housing.
"Is affordable housing a problem? Yes," Bokhari said. "Are we making the slightest dent in it? We’re not, it's tens of thousands of units that’s the problem."
Housing officials said most of the projects approved for funding will be built and ready by the end of 2025.
City council also voted in its action review meeting, which is before the regular business meeting, to allow Inlivian, previously the Charlotte Housing Authority, to issue more bond money to the South Village Apartments project.
The plan for affordable apartments and townhomes by the Scaleybark light rail station was initially awarded a $12 million bond, now housing officials are upping the amount to $17 million.
Lastly, council members approved giving $2 million to local organizations that will help up to 40 low-income homeowners with improvements and repairs. The initiative aims to preserve affordable housing that already exists.
As officials work to tackle the issue, city data shows 32,000 units are needed to address Charlotte’s affordable housing crisis.
A closer look at Hope Springs
Habitat for Humanity is seeking solutions for expensive home prices with the future Hope Springs subdivision in northwest Charlotte.
Most of the affordable housing projects approved Monday are apartments for rent but Habitat is building 30 single-family houses off Peachtree Road that will be sold to families at reduced prices based on their finances.
In March 2023, Redfin found houses in Charlotte sold for an average of $410,000. Data from the real estate brokerage shows home prices have spiked over the last five years.
"There's just fewer and fewer and fewer starter homes, or what we consider affordable homes here in the Charlotte region," Shannon Green, Senior VP of Organizational Advancement of Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region, said.
Green said an affordable starter house is considered to be anything listed under $300,000.
To help people attain homeownership, Green said Habitat for Humanity builds houses using public and private funding, and works with buyers to settle on a mortgage they can afford.
"We look at their debt to credit ratio, any debt that they might have around student loans, or medical loans, the size of their family, and what their current earning is,” Green explained.
Habitat houses have deed restrictions to ensure they stay affordable for decades. The houses are typically worth around $280,000, but buyers may only pay half that based on their qualifications.
High demand for affordable housing, especially for-sale homes, means the developments are hard to get into.
"I would say there's a couple hundred people on the waitlist for Habitat housing," Green estimated. "We will build 100 new homes next year -- 100 new homes and repairs. So, we certainly are continuing to look at ways and strategies to keep up with the demand."
Hope Springs is set to open by late 2026.
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