CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New numbers indicate that rent is climbing to steep new heights in Charlotte and landlords are now charging on average an extra $20 compared to what they were one year ago.
Eyewitness News reporter Mark Barber talked to families on fixed incomes who worry the housing they desperately need will be even more out of reach this year.
Karl Mathis has been watching new apartments spring up across Charlotte but he said there aren't any he can actually afford.
"Up here, it's so high,” Mathis said. “I really haven't seen anything."
Mathis and his neighbor, Ronald Taylor, are scrambling to find new apartments before their current homes are torn down.
The owner of the Melrose Apartments at Woodlawn Road and Park Road is kicking all the residents out later this year because a developer is going to build expensive townhomes in their place.
Many pricey projects like that one are under construction across the city in a year where renters will be pinched more than ever before.
According to new numbers released by Apartment List on Monday, Charlotte's rental prices grew 2 percent throughout 2017, raising the rate of a median two-bedroom apartment to $1,090.
That figure is expected to climb even higher in 2018 because most of the units under construction are luxurious developments with tiny studio units starting at $1,000 a month.
Ronald Taylor said that's far beyond his price point.
"Heartbreaking, and it's frustrating," he said.
City leaders are trying to build 5,000 more affordable housing units but even if they meet that goal, there will still be a major shortfall. The nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners said Charlotte is short 21,000 rental units for people who make less than half of the city's typical salary.
Taylor is begging city leaders to stop the development cycle that wore him down in 2017.
"The last two places I was living at, they tore them down," he said.
In 2018, he and his neighbors said they're desperately hoping city leaders will build a better city that everyone can afford.
"They're just building it for the rich people and we're poor," Mathis said.
Rent in Charlotte is relatively affordable compared to the rest of the country. San Francisco and similar cities charge nearly triple the rates found in Charlotte.
In Apartment List's recent ranking, the cost of rent in Charlotte is right between the cities of Dallas and Phoenix.
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