City claims victory on affordable housing goal, though almost half aren’t built yet
Charlotte city officials say they have kept their promise following a fatal police shooting to create 5,000 affordable housing units, though nearly half of them aren’t built yet.
That pledge, one of three Charlotte City Council made after the 2016 protests that followed the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, is approaching its three-year deadline.
“We’ve completed that goal and those units have been created,” Pam Wideman, Charlotte’s director of housing and neighborhood services, said in a recent interview with WFAE, noting the units were a combination of new construction and other housing programs, but did not specify which projects were completed.
A breakdown of projects provided to The Charlotte Observer shows the 5,018 units in the city’s count include new construction, renovations and grants for down payments and home repairs.
Nearly half, or 44%, aren’t yet available for residents, including 1,074 units across two dozen projects that haven’t begun construction, but are designated as “committed,” and still in financing or permitting stages, according to a city spokesman.
Another 1,132 units are under construction. Wideman told the Observer that it is still appropriate to count those toward the goal.
“From the outset we explained — and for anyone who understands development — it will take time to actually realize these units on the ground,” Wideman said. “The heaviest lift is getting the funding committed so the developers can go to work.”
Robert Dawkins, of the social justice group Action NC, said previous unfinished housing developments should be a lesson.
“I never count a unit as being created until people have moved in,” he said. “There has been a history (in Charlotte) of projects being under contract and not being built.“
Several council members said the time between financing and construction explains why many units aren’t ready for residents.
“There is a lead time on those projects. I think it would be unrealistic to complete those units and have people in them within three years,” said Ed Driggs, a Republican representing District 7.
One-quarter of the units are within completed projects, however, either in new construction or rehabilitation of existing buildings. About 30% represent homes improved with city-funded repair grants or purchased with downpayment assistance.
That mix represents the diverse housing needs in Charlotte, said Mayor Vi Lyles, who was a council member in 2016. Those needs include building new, preserving existing affordable housing, and helping people buy or stay in homes they own.
“The toolbox has got to be full,” she said. “Every step we’ve taken has added options that we can further explore.”
But real progress isn’t possible until the net loss of affordable units is addressed, Dawkins said, likening the situation to bailing out a boat with a leak.
“I can’t say it’s been successful reaching the 5,000 goal until I see how many affordable housing units we’ve lost in the process,” he said.
The city does not track how many affordable units are eliminated by bulldozer or increasing rents to measure net gains or losses in the city’s overall need, but Wideman said she is considering hiring a consultant to do so.
Charlotte needs 24,000 more units for households earning 50% or below the area median income — about $40,000 or less for a family of four, according to a city-commissioned study.
When asked how she assesses the 2016 promises nearly three years later, Lyles said there is still work to be done.
“I think that year, that emotional moment, laid a strong foundation that we can continue to build on and make a difference,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to look forward.”
Wideman said the 5,000 benchmark was never meant to be a stopping point, noting the eight proposed affordable housing projects under consideration to receive $12.8 million from the housing trust fund. City Council will vote on the deals Monday.
A different conversation
District 3 council member LaWana Mayfield, then chair of the housing and neighborhood development committee, said at a council meeting shortly after the Scott shooting that reaching the 5,000 goal within three years would “be a huge undertaking,” that would require contributions from developers and the larger Charlotte community.
Now, she said initial city commitments need to be exceeded to meet an ever-growing need.
“I don’t believe we can use the same metrics as three years ago,” she said, noting increased construction costs, the continual influx of new Charlotte residents, and decreases in state and federal funding for programs like the Community Development Block Grants.
“The (5,000 unit) goal is a good goal, but that goal is going to constantly change with more people coming into our community and outside investors coming in and buying what was once affordable,” Mayfield said.
Several council members described a housing landscape that has drastically changed since the 5,000 goal was made three years ago. The $50 million voters approved for the city’s Housing Trust Fund and matching $50 million in private donations did not yet exist, nor did the city’s housing framework, which guide how the money should be spent.
“That goal was superseded by a larger ambition,” Driggs said, noting increased public and private funding. “That’s why most of us aren’t looking back at that because we feel like we’ve stepped into a whole new approach and magnitude as part of our efforts.”
Council member Braxton Winston, who was not on city council in 2016 but protested with community members after Scott’s death, said the 5,000 goal is an “arbitrary” number within a much larger problem, but that the resources available now were unimaginable when the 2016 letter was signed.
“We’re in a position where, not only do we have those funds, we have the framework to spend this (and) invest in a way where you’re reaping more fruit,” said Winston, a Democrat and at-large councilman.
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 July 18, 2019 at 9:10 AM.
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