COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia leaders gathered Friday to pursue initiatives to increase mixed-use affordable housing, an issue some residents say needs to be addressed.
Cynthia Ferrell, a Columbia resident, was among those who voiced their concerns.
“It’s very difficult to own a home, it’s very expensive,” Ferrell said.
Another resident, Daniel Han, echoed those sentiments.
“It’s wildly expensive,” he said.
Han recently purchased his first home in Columbia and described the challenging search for a reasonably priced home in a desirable area.
Mayor Daniel Rickenmann highlighted the significant demand for housing across various income levels.
“We need close to 16,000 various units, and that’s at every level and income,” he said.
The mayor pointed out the city's abundance of empty lots but a lack of available homes.
“We have close to 2,100 empty lots across the city, so we’re looking to see how do we work with the neighborhoods to build that and infill that and bring people back downtown,” Rickenmann said.
After the meeting, leaders visited several areas, including Booker Washington Heights and an active project in the Belmont community.
Mayor Rickenmann detailed one such project.
“There are 19 lots that we've owned for a long time, four of them that are not buildable," he said. "So that’s a pocket park there. And then the rest we will [be] working with local banks, and construction has not started yet, but a construction company's to build 10 homes, and we’re getting people currently qualified for those homes and want to do the same in several other neighborhoods.”
Matt McColl from S.C. Housing announced additional funding for their Palmetto Heroes program, which supports homeownership for South Carolina public heroes.
“It launched on April 15, and since then, we've had an incredible impact with over 35 million dollars in loan reservations being filed," he said. "This shows the need for homeownership assistance for down payment assistance for competitive interest rates.”
Residents interested in the Palmetto Heroes program can still apply here.
