Transforming Communities: Affordable Housing

Shelter is one of our most basic human needs and Charlotte is currently 36,000 housing units short of meeting this demand (City of Charlotte Housing Dashboard). Of the 36,000 units, approximately 25,000 need to be earmarked as affordable. To meet the definition of affordable, individuals and families must be able to pay for housing with no more than 30% of their gross income. We can work to combat this crisis from the land development side through deed restrictions, public and private investments options and government incentive programs, but more effort on the public’s part is necessary.

As Charlotte continues to grow daily and as we are on the tail end of the pandemic, the demand for housing, including affordable housing, increases daily. Unfortunately, there is no easy way for us to combat this. People have written articles and books, delivered powerful speeches on the affordable housing crisis that inspire change locally but have little impact on the national epidemic. There are prevalent affordable housing factors within the Charlotte land development space like: Runaway building material costs, entrenched NIMBYism, lengthening permitting reviews, and permitting complexity.

The answer to solve this critical need for our city is not as simple as building more units. This can only be achieved through public education, enlightenment, and willingness to help, even in the smallest of ways. The general public needs to put down their drawbridges and leave NIMBYism behind. A vibrant city flourishes and thrives with a multitude of backgrounds, thoughts, and income levels. The wealth of a family or individual should not act as a prerequisite box to be checked when creating a vibrant and successful neighborhood. Strong communities share a common thread of diverse thoughts, perspectives, and backgrounds.

UDP actively seeks relationships with local affordable builders and pushes for inclusion of affordable housing options with our clients looking to pursue residential developments. We also work to engage City leaders while challenging standing policy on making the inclusion of affordable housing more available and seamlessly integrated into our neighborhoods. The simple act of bringing attention to the need, asking the right questions, and understanding the goals and needs of our clients and future homeowners is all the spark you need to begin to chip away at the problem. UDP has a range of experience incorporating affordable units into communities at various scales from a few units to full affordable housing communities. We have worked through the NCFHA process and successfully received funding for several communities in Charlotte.

UDP’s goal is to have an open dialogue with existing and prospective clients, engage and be open to different perspectives, and challenge jurisdictions to allow a diversity of housing types to fulfill the need for shelter. Many of our successful projects providing affordable components started with simply asking the question, “have you considered including a component of diverse housing options for a mix of incomes?" To solve this problem, we all have to start somewhere. Maybe the simple act of asking the right questions early will generate a desired result.