COLUMBIA, S.C. — The SC State Housing Finance and Development Authority, also known as SC Housing, has relaunched its rental database website, adding features to help streamline the search process. This comes as the state faces a housing shortage.
"Basically, in South Carolina, we have an undersupply of housing," Emily Blackshire Giel, a housing justice attorney fellow with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, said.
Blackshire Giel said several factors contribute to this problem, including population growth.
"Since 2010, South Carolina has gotten 650,000 new residents. That can be people born in the state, that can be people who moved from other states to the state, that can be people who have immigrated from other countries," Blackshire Giel said.
According to a study by the SC Housing Finance and Development Authority, in 2023, that increase was more than 16 percent, which was above the national increase.
While the population outgrows housing, SC Housing said it hopes to help address this issue with its rental search database relaunch, SCHousingSearch.com.
"It's a very critical time for housing, and not just single-family housing, but multi-family housing, just different types of housing. It's something where we are providing essential tool for individual families that are seeking homes in South Carolina."
SC Housing said some of the website's features include searching by zip code and specific criteria filters, such as the number of rooms and population.
"It does this through a comprehensive database and SC Housing search dot com offers a free and extensive database of available rental units," Matt McColl with SC Housing said.
Blackshire Giel said she hopes to see more affordable housing options.
"While I think this is an amazing resource and I'm excited about it ultimately the problem lies in the lack of stock and the problem of stock for renters at that low income level," she said.
The website is open to anyone searching for a rental property in South Carolina. SC Housing adds the website is also open to landlords and management companies looking to list rental properties.