North Charlotte Today

Charlotte is looking for ways to amp up efforts to increase the number of affordable housing units across the city, a move that some say is an urgent need.

"There is a real crisis,” District 4 Councilwoman Renee Perkins Johnson said during a meeting earlier this week, according to WCNC Charlotte. “People cannot afford to live here.”

The Charlotte City Council recognized the need and discussed several new projects that would bring about 600 affordable apartments and townhomes to the city. 

Johnson, however, sees a shortcoming in those plans: the fact that only about 23% (140) of the new proposed units would be geared toward those who earn less than 30% of the median income in the city. She would like to see the council focus on providing shelter for the most needy in Charlotte.

"The 0-30%, they’re in the hotels, they were in tent city,” Johnson said in the meeting.

In looking at solutions for the problem, council members acknowledged that the city has made some progress, but not enough. That assessment came after the city released a report on the Housing Trust Fund and what has been achieved over the past two decades.

The City Council is expected to vote on the proposals to bring 602 affordable housing units next week. If they approve the plans, $12.5 million would be ponied up to help fund the construction. That money would come from a $50 million affordable housing bond that voters passed, and it would leave the fund nearly empty, WCNC Charlotte reported.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and others have suggested holding an affordable housing summit so that experts can propose different ideas about how the Queen City can work more efficiently to implement solutions to the housing crisis.