Here’s how Charlotte could turn property taxes into rent help
Charlotte City Council will consider expanding a pilot program to fund rental subsidies with property tax revenue in hopes of addressing a critical shortage of housing for the lowest income renters.
If approved, owners of affordable apartment developments could use rebates on their annual property tax to cover part of the rent for people who otherwise couldn’t afford to live there.
The vouchers would close the gap between what households earning up to 30% of the area median income (AMI) can afford and total rent price. The program is aimed at developers who buy naturally occurring affordable housing, or NOAH properties, to rehab and keep them affordable.
This concept tackles two of Charlotte’s toughest housing challenges: keeping older, more affordable apartments out of the hands of developers intending to buy properties, flip them and increase prices, and subsidizing rent for the city’s poorest residents, according to city housing director Pam Wideman.
“This is one of your truest anti-displacement tools,” she told the City Council Monday.
An average one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte, Wideman said, is $1,152 per month, but households at 30% AMI can only afford $405. The voucher would pay the remaining $747.
Housing needed for lowest incomes
There is a dire lack of housing in Charlotte affordable for those at or below 30% AMI, which is $17,700 for an individual or $25,250 household income for a family of four.
While Inlivian, Charlotte’s housing authority, administers the area’s largest voucher program, demand far outstrips supply.
There are roughly 5,000 Housing Choice (more commonly known as Section 8) vouchers in circulation locally, but a waiting list of 6,000 households, Inlivian officials have said.
City and county officials first tried this property tax voucher model with Lake Mist Apartments, purchased by Ascent Housing last year.
Council members will vote next week to fund voucher programs at three more NOAH properties: The Pines at Wendover, Maple Way and Shamrock Gardens apartments, with a request to use a combined $99,407 in 2021 city property tax to fund 55 vouchers.
The three properties under consideration were purchased by Ascent Housing or are expected to close soon.
Ascent and the $58 million Housing Impact Fund last year announced a goal to buy and save 1,500 affordable housing units.
Council members would agree to fund the vouchers for as long as the developer keeps the building affordable, with a minimum of 20 years. Future developers interested in joining the voucher program would be considered and approved by the council.
Wideman said county commissioners must approve using Mecklenburg’s share of an apartment building’s property tax for vouchers as well for the arrangement to work. Vouchers would be administered through the nonprofit Socialserve.
Mayor Vi Lyles praised the concept.
“I really like this proposal because it combines what we’re trying to do with keeping the affordable housing, working with people that we can really trust for the development and making it possible for them to really approach this from a business perspective,” she said.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 2:46 PM.
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