9 Investigates

9 investigates why Scaleybark affordable housing project isn't completed

By DaShawn Brown, wsoctv.com
By DaShawn Brown, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte’s goal is 24,000 units as city leaders address the ongoing affordable housing crisis.

In a Channel 9 investigation, Eyewitness News reporter DaShawn Brown checked into years of projects to make sure the city is on track to take on the problem.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Affordable Housing Crisis]

One area that has not changed despite the city’s growth and that is near the Scaleybark light rail station on South Boulevard.

The city of Charlotte sold the property in 3007. Part of the deal was that the developer who bought it would build affordable apartments.

Those apartments would be accessible for people who make less than 60 percent of the city’s average income.

The deal was made 10 years ago, but the apartments were never built.

Charlotte's housing director Pamela Wideman, said the city has never had a housing project it didn't complete, so this was first.

Wideman said the project was approved during a bad economic downturn.

Wideman said the state also denied a tax credit on the project three times, in part because there's no grocery store nearby, which is considered an amenity.

The tax credits keep construction costs down and the rent low.

Councilwoman Lawana Mayfield chairs the city’s housing committee.

“So that cost of construction is also creating a major challenge with the affordability of the units,” Mayfield said.

After digging through years of projects funded under the city’s housing trust fund between 2007 and 2018, out of 41 projects listed complete, Scaleybark was the only property that wasn’t.  When we questioned the city, officials could not explain why it was on the list of completed projects.

Charlotte resident Theresa Ferguson has been on a waiting list for housing for at least five years.

The single working mother split up her family, while she looks for a decent home she can afford.  She’s staying with friends from her church, while her teenage son lives in another home.

“They've got these townhomes coming up, these row houses,” Ferguson said. “They're for sale, or they're rented well out of my reach.”

Mayfield said there's a lot the city can learn from what happened with Scaleybark, so they don't repeat it.

“One, make it clear for you as a developer what our expectations are, if you're going to develop in certain areas and identifying what are the needs in the community today,” Mayfield said.

Ferguson said she can’t afford to wait and said she also can’t afford a decent home.

“At times, I feel somewhat of a failure, because I'm not able to provide those same amenities to my son,” Ferguson said.

Instead of reimbursing the city for the property on South Boulevard, the Scaleybark developer agreed to deed some of the land back by the end of August.

That ensures the city can still use part of that land to build affordable housing units.

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