Charlotte council funds affordable housing with a familiar debate: Where will it go?
The Charlotte City Council has approved $25.8 million for 14 affordable housing developments, which could make up to 1,400 units available for low-income residents.
The vote to spend more from the Housing Trust Fund renewed a central debate around city-funded affordable housing:
Where should they be located?
Citing feedback from some constituents to the “disproportionate amount” of developments in her west Charlotte District 3, Victoria Watlington asked the council to vote separately on two of the developments, both in her district. All 14 were ultimately approved.
Watlington said she wants more affordable housing, but she’s heard from residents who want more mixed-use and mixed-income options, including home ownership opportunities to stabilize neighborhoods.
“I believe that equity requires that we consider the impacts at the margins, and we should be considering how each project affects the fabric of our neighborhoods,” she said.
Six of the 14 developments in this funding round are in Watlington’s district. None are in the more affluent Districts 6 or 7 in south Charlotte.
The discussion echoed a central and ongoing theme in the affordable housing debate: Is it better to build fewer units in areas deemed highest in opportunity, close to jobs, transit and other amenities — but where land is more expensive — or more units in less expensive parts of town?
In November, Charlotte voters overwhelmingly approved another $50 million in bonds for the city’s Housing Trust Fund, which is used to build or preserve affordable housing. Historically, the trust fund has been used for the construction of new apartments.
But in recent years, the council also has approved money to buy and preserve lower-rent apartments that are at risk of being purchased by market rate developers who then raise rents.
A severe housing shortage
Charlotte’s housing location policy states affordable developments that get city investments should be near employment and commercial centers, near existing and proposed transit services, in the center-city, or in neighborhoods experiencing adverse change, such as rising rents and other signs of gentrification.
Tariq Bokhari, who represents District 6 including the Myers Park and SouthPark areas, criticized what he said was a narrative that affordable housing isn’t wanted in south Charlotte.
Land costs, Bokhari said, are the ultimate deterrent.
“Can we go ... throw bags of money at it and get a couple hundred houses? Of course we can,” he said of expensive south Charlotte areas. But building else where could yield many more, he said.
He cited the overall local shortage of affordable units, which estimates have put between 24,000 and 34,000 units. He called out a need for “heads in beds that we have to address and be stewards of these dollars.
“It by no stretch of any imagination makes me less want affordable housing in my district or in SouthPark,” he said.
Council member Renee Johnson, who supported Watlington’s proposal to split up the developments, said more expensive parts of town are also places that can promote upward mobility through education, transportation and jobs.
“At some point we have to stop and not be dazzled by the ‘affordable housing’ term but really be intentional about solving these problems,” she said.
Several council members including Malcolm Graham said the council should consider changes to the Housing Trust Fund strategy, such as buying land in expensive areas to make developments there more feasible.
The debate is not unique to the city. Mecklenburg County commissioners last year debated where to allocate funding for affordable housing when it sells land for the Seventh and Tryon development.
Commissioners decided on a compromise. They directed $6 million to Inlivian to build mixed-income apartments in uptown, one block over from Seventh and Tryon, as well as nearly $8 million for other affordable housing developments elsewhere in the city.
It’s unlikely all 14 projects will ultimately be funded because developers for at least seven of them are vying for highly competitive low-income tax credits, city staff told the council earlier this month.
City staff expects about three or four of the competitive developments to get the tax credits they seek, and the housing trust fund would allocate some $22.2 million for this round.
Monday’s vote represents the largest one-time allocation from the Housing Trust Fund, city officials said.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
%20Cropped.jpg)