Council Quickies: Housing Trust Fund Proposals

Charlotte City Council held a business meeting on Monday, preceded by an action review presentation from Rebecca Hefner with the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Services (HNS) department in which she presented her staff’s recommendations for how council could spend its record $100-million allocation for the Housing Trust Fund during last year’s budget vote.

On the Agenda:

• Housing Trust Fund Recommendations
• City Council Discussions

Mayor Vi Lyles starts the meeting by publicly acknowledging the receipt of Tariq Bokhari’s resignation, which will be effective on April 20. He’s stepping down from council to take the role of deputy administrator in the Federal Transit Administration under President Donald Trump.

“We’ve been through a lot of very rough times and we’ve been through a lot of great victories and times together,” Bokhari said. “I will continue to do whatever I can to support Charlotte and the city we all love and support you all and everything that you’re working on.”

Housing Trust Fund Recommendations

City staff’s Housing Trust Fund (HTF) recommendations were broken down into the following categories, as agreed to by council in the FY 2025 budget: $35 million in rental housing production, $25 million for homeownership projects, $14M for rental housing preservation, $9 million for supportive housing and shelter, $5 million for housing rehab and emergency repair, $5 million for an Innovation Pilot Fund, $5 million toward site acquisition for future projects, and $2 million for administration and evaluation.

The below projects are six newly proposed rental developments totaling nearly 700 units. All of which save for Long Creek Commons are designated to remain affordable for 99 years. 

Baker Crossing (58 units) would be a transit-oriented development, less than a quarter-mile from the Tom Hunter light rail station located on North Tryon Street near the Hidden Valley neighborhood.

Barton South (140 units) would be located on Old Pineville Road below Griffith Road in south Charlotte, also TOD along the Blue Line. Council previously awarded $3 million from the HTF for the project but inflation made it unfeasible. They ended up only purchasing the land with that money.

Havenridge at Sharon Amity (120 units) would be located on North Sharon Amity between Albemarle Road and Independence Boulevard. Nonprofit partners would offer on-site services to residents.

Union at Graham (198 units) would be located on Oneida Road in Derita, near a future Red Line stop. The investment of $22,000 per unit here is much lower than the other developments in Monday’s presentation, which were closer to $50,000 per unit. 

Woodward Apartments complex (130 units) would be located in the Druid Hills South neighborhood in walking distance to Camp North End. It would include a full-time on-site partnership with Ounce of Care, a nonprofit that’s focused on financial mobility, health and wellness, safety and community engagement.

Long Creek Commons would offer 48 units for senior living located on Beatties Ford Road just north of Mount Holly-Huntersville Road. Resident services would include on-site budget counseling and health screenings. The affordability period would be 50 years. 

Staff recommended that council defer a request for $13.5 million, which would be a record high HTF allocation, for two complexes that would be part of the larger Brooklyn Village development. Staff said there are financial issues with the project, as there have been with the broader project as a whole. 

Read more: Further Delays Expected in Brooklyn Village Development

Staff recommended four developments to create a total of 102 new homes for sale: Aveline Newell Townhomes on Old Concord Road (54 units), Carya Pond Townhomes (32 units) in Hickory Grove, Frew Road Townhomes (7 units) near Derita Park, and Tom Hunter Homes (9 units) near Hidden Valley.

Breaking down the total number of rental units proposed on Monday night, 247 would go to people earning 30% or less of the average median income (AMI), 61 units to people at 50% AMI, 386 for people at 60% AMI, 134 for people at 70% AMI, and 204 for people at 80% AMI or lower. 

For context, 30% AMI translates to rent costs ranging from $556-$826 per month, while 80% translates to a rent range of $1,484-$2,205.  

City Council Discussion

“Sitting here from where we started with $15 million to where we are today has been absolutely astounding,” said Mayor Vi Lyles as the floor opened up to council for discussion and deliberation following Rebecca Hefner’s hour-and-a-half presentation.

In response to a question from Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson regarding why the homeownership opportunities didn’t make up a larger percentage of the total proposed developments, Warren Wooten with HNS said, “We’re currently at a point in time when homeownership is disadvantaged due to high interest rates, which is making it hard on our partners to pencil these [homeownership developments] out.” 

“We’re hoping that those interest rates will moderate to help with some of these gaps,” Wooten continued. “The problem we’re seeing is the enormous gap that they need [to cross] to get our working-class families into homeownership with these high interest rates.”

The city is considering acquiring a .45-acre lot on West Trade Street across from Bojangles near Mosaic Village to allow for the construction of 102 affordable units called the West End Apartments. The density would be possible because it would be a car-less development with no parking.

Anderson said the development might be a great idea but warned that car-less developments in NoDa are causing issues because people living there still own cars and park them on the surrounding streets, so she hopes there can be some “teeth” in enforcing the rule from her on out. 

Council members Malcolm Graham and Tiawana Brown would go on to agree with Anderson, stating that the car-less developments “don’t work” because residents continue to own cars and clog the streets with parking. Graham said he consistently gets calls from constituents in his district about one such development but there’s nothing he can do to help them. 

Graham also discussed the Brooklyn Village proposal, stating that he hopes the city “proceeds with caution … It’s been almost a decade and we’re talking about $13.5 million, which is our largest allocation from the Trust Fund. I would love to see [Brooklyn Village] developed before I leave the earth … I’m not optimistic…”

Brown took issue with Graham’s pessimism regarding Brooklyn Village, insisting that it’s important for the legacy of the neighborhood it’s meant to honor and that the city should be doing everything it can to help the development along.

Charlotte City Council will meet again for a zoning meeting on April 21. Council members are scheduled to vote on the Housing Trust Fund recommendations during a business meeting scheduled for April 28. The next RFP process for developers to pitch affordable housing developments funded by the Housing Trust Fund will take place from May to September.