‘A great deal of stigma’: Charlotte Housing Authority to change its name to ‘Inlivian’
After 80 years, the Charlotte Housing Authority is rebranding as Inlivian, in an attempt to overcome what officials say are negative connotations and limitations of its old name.
Inlivian better reflects its role as an “entrepreneurial agency focused on solutions” to addressing the affordable housing crisis and improving residents’ lives, chief executive A. Fulton Meachem Jr. said in a statement provided to the Observer.
Meachem said officials “struggled” with the old name of the agency, which works with about 10,000 households in Mecklenburg County.
“We learned that to many people, the words ‘housing’ and ‘authority’ have a great deal of stigma and negative connotations associated with them,” Meachem wrote, including negative stereotypes of its residents.
Officials sought input from residents, staff, board members and community leaders before selecting the final moniker. The name, which the organization stylizes in all capital letters, is partly inspired by the word “enliven,” Meachem said.
A resident focus group brought the winning name to the forefront out of several finalists, Meachem said in a follow-up interview, noting that several more traditional names were in the mix.
“For me, it meant (becoming) Inlivian is a way to keep restoring dignity to those families,” he said. “They don’t need that ‘Charlotte Housing Authority’ label. These are hard-working families.”
The organization has changed immensely in its eight decades of operation, Meachem said, so that “Charlotte Housing Authority” didn’t fully represent the business model any more.
“We are trying to redefine how people in this city see housing,” he said. “It needs to be for everyone. It needs to be inclusive.”
80 years of history
One year after President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Housing Act of 1937, which led to the creation of public housing authorities, Charlotte officials began the process to create their own. The Charlotte Housing Authority was approved by state officials in 1939.
For the first several decades, the housing authority focused on building apartment complexes for low-income residents.
In 1996 it introduced “the city’s first apartment complex aimed at mixing the poor with the middle class,” according to an Observer report. The goal, housing authority officials said at the time, was to break up concentrated poverty and promote economic mobility.
This mixed-income model is now the norm for the housing authority. New developments often contain units designated for a range of incomes, including some at market rate.
As a public housing authority, Inlivian is funded in large part by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The seven-member board is appointed by the mayor and City Council. At least one board member is a resident.
In 2001 the housing authority established three subsidiaries related to property development and supportive services for residents. It added a property management group, a non-profit subsidiary, in 2016.
Rebranding costs were about $200,000 over two years, officials said, though a final tally was not immediately available. The project did not use federal funds, but rather developer, management and other fees from its business operations, officials said.
“I realize that a new name and brand does not change the fact that there is a significant affordable housing crisis in our community,” Meachem wrote. “I’ve said this before, but our agency has always been about more than ‘sticks and bricks.’ We plan to continue and expand our innovative approach to housing, real estate development, property management and resident services.”
Housing authorities find new identities
Charlotte is not the first to rebrand itself.
Fort Worth Housing Authority is now Fort Worth Housing Solutions. The Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake became Housing Connect.
When the former Portland Housing Authority announced in 2011 it was now Home Forward, leaders said the old name didn’t reflect “the progressive, mission-based character of the organization,” and the change would improve government, non-profit and corporate partnerships.
Many housing authorities seeking a fresh look cited similar reasoning: that the original names no longer fit the scope of the current work.
“Housing authorities are thinking about what their roles are going forward,” said Susan Popkin, an institute fellow at the Urban Institute and the author of a book about the Chicago Housing Authority.
While they continue to provide crucial subsidized housing for low-income residents, she said, that work has expanded. Many housing authorities like Charlotte’s have become housing and redevelopment authorities, Popkin said, with development work that sometimes extends beyond housing into other community revitalization projects.
Other transitions haven’t been so smooth. After Colorado’s Adams County Housing Authority changed its name to Unison Housing Partners in 2018, a California-based real estate firm with a similar name sued. The Colorado housing authority told local media it will pick another name.
This work was made possible in part by grant funding from Report for America/GroundTruth Project and the Foundation For The Carolinas.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 11:47 AM.
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