CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An open house in West Charlotte is opening new opportunities for future homeowners in need of affordable housing. With the help of the West Side Community Land Trust, the non-profit works to preserve and develop neighborhoods for low-income families.
One of those neighborhoods includes Clanton Park, where the Valder family says it first brought their home back in the late 1960s. Decades later, they chose to donate the property to the West Side Community Land Trust.
“I just know we grew up in a community where things weren’t equitable and this house has been in the family for a long time and we don’t believe that equity is ours-- we believe it belongs to the community," Stephen Valder said.
On top of the donation, the family also provided $125,000 to renovate the home. Now, the newly redesigned 3-bedroom 2-bathroom house is on the market for buyers who qualify through the land trust program.
“I’d like to move back in, but I won’t qualify," Jan Valder said. "It’s just wonderful and the neighborhood here is quite the same.”
For years, leaders with the City of Charlotte have been working to find tangible solutions to the city's affordable housing issues, but ultimately many say the key is homeownership.
“Owning land and owning a home puts you in a position where you absolutely can help to determine the direction of not only your home but your neighborhood," Charlotte City Council District 3 representative Victoria Watlington said.
Contact Briana Harper at bharper@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
WCNC Charlotte is part of seven major media companies and other local institutions producing I Can’t Afford to Live Here, a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte. It is a project of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, which is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. See all of our reporting at charlottejournalism.org.