CHARLOTTE, N.C. — According to city data, 32,000 units are needed to address Charlotte’s affordable housing crisis. In the city’s effort to help close that gap, nine new development proposals are on the table hoping to offer apartments and houses at a reduced cost.
The plans drafted by affordable housing developers need approval from the city council before receiving money from Charlotte's Housing Trust Fund.
Like many growing cities, housing in the Charlotte area can't keep up with demand, causing prices to soar.
"If you rent at $1,200 you’re lucky,” Action NC housing advocate Jessica Moreno said to WCNC Charlotte.
Moreno knows the struggle of finding affordable housing, having to leave Charlotte and move to Gastonia to find a home her family could afford.
“There are no real options out here for people that want to find housing because, again, we need to level the housing market,” she added.
City leaders are considering the following nine development proposals that could help fill the gap:
- 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
- The Merit by Dreamkey Partners
- 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
If all are approved, the plans would create 701 new affordable units across the Charlotte area and cost the city $26 million.
“We can't do this kind of development without the city funding,” Lee Cochran, Senior VP of Development for Laurel Street, said.
The developer is hoping to get help from the trust fund for 87 apartment units in the future River District that's currently being built. Rent at the River District Apartments would vary based on residents’ income levels.
"It's a really exciting, exciting community," Cochran said. "Having affordable housing be a part of it from the very beginning-- it's kind of, it's very unique to Charlotte."
The River District is a 1,400-acre mixed-use community that is being developed in west Charlotte on the Catawba River.
Because of the high demand for affordable housing, Cochran said all of Laurel Street's mixed-income communities are full and some have "waiting lists that are years long."
To move people off waitlists and into housing, Cochran said more private and public dollars are needed.
"The more money you can raise and put toward it, the more housing that we can build," he said.
The city council will vote on whether to approve the nine housing projects during the Monday, April 24 meeting. If approved, it’ll be a couple of years before units become available.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
This story is part of ‘I Can’t Afford to Live Here,’ a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte.
WCNC Charlotte is part of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative (CJC), launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with funding from the Knight Foundation. The CJC strengthens the local news ecosystem and increases opportunities for engagement. It is supported by a combination of local and national grants and sponsorships. For more information, visit charlottejournalism.org.
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