Inlivian? Charlotte Housing Authority’s new name is not a laughing matter

You don’t have to travel far on the internet to find some smirking about Inlivian, the new name announced Monday for an 80-year-old Charlotte agency that provides housing assistance to low-income residents. Yes, it’s an unusual choice to replace “Charlotte Housing Authority” — a straightforward approach that most cities used when public housing authorities were created across the country in the late 1930s. And while it’s a decision that shouldn’t be ridiculed, it’s one that prompts at least a couple of questions about usefulness and cost.

There’s no disputing that there were some good intentions behind the agency’s name change. Officials and residents struggled with “Charlotte Housing Authority,” which brings connotations about public housing that can stigmatize clients. So officials sought input from residents, staff, board members and community leaders. Said Inlivian’s chief executive, A. Fulton Meachem to the Observer: “For me, it meant Inlivian is a way to keep restoring dignity to those families. They don’t need that ‘Charlotte Housing Authority’ label. These are hard-working families.”

Meachem also said that “Inlivian” better reflected “an entrepreneurial agency focused on solutions” to the affordable housing crisis and improving residents’ lives.

For similar reasons, other cities also have moved away from the “housing authority” name, including Fort Worth, Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon. Others have kept their names or at least kept “housing” or their city as part of their new name, such as “Fort Worth Housing Solutions.” There’s a good, utilitarian reason for that: People who need help should have an easy time finding it. “Inlivian,” which might be confused with any condo dotting the uptown Charlotte landscape, disguises the core purpose of the agency. That’s potentially impractical and possibly confusing to the people it might serve.

It’s also not cheap. Rebranding costs were about $200,000 over two years, officials told the Observer’s Lauren Lindstrom, who reports that a final tally was not immediately available. Inlivian is funded in large part by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but as happens in many cities, Charlotte’s housing authority also gets revenue from other buckets that include development and management fees. Such fees are what paid for the rebranding, Inlivian officials say.

Still, the authority and its seven-member board, which is appointed by the mayor and City Council, should ask if that’s the best use for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Charlotte is grappling with an affordable housing crisis, and while $200,000 is a tiny fraction of the money needed to make a difference, those dollars certainly might have been more meaningfully used for people who need help most. At the least, the timing for such an expense is iffy given the city-wide focus on its housing challenge.

We appreciate why Meachem and officials wanted to address the stigma that comes with housing authorities. It’s not a laughing matter, regardless of what you think of this authority’s new name. But we wish officials had thought a little more about where they landed — and about the best use of critical resources they have.

This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 12:00 AM.