What new report reveals about Mecklenburg County's current affordable-housing picture

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — The rising cost of living in Mecklenburg County continues to put pressure on the lowest-income households of the greater Charlotte area, making it harder for those residents to find housing and stability.

The 2019 Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability and Homelessness released last week by Mecklenburg County and the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute includes data that helps illustrate, among other things, where the biggest gaps in affordable housing are today. Among the report's findings, 78,862 households were considered cost-burdened in Mecklenburg County in 2017, meaning those residents spent more than 30% of their annual income on housing. A household that spends more than 50% of its income on housing is considered severely cost-burdened.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Affordable Housing Crisis]

Other key numbers: more than 2,000 individuals are experiencing homelessness as of June 30 and eviction filings increased for the third year in a row — by 12% between fiscal years 2018 and 2019, after annual decreases between 2011 and 2016.

Affordable housing has become one of the city's forefront issues amid Charlotte's building boom. Rental rates are skyrocketing across the metro and naturally occurring affordable housing — older, usually non-amenitized apartments that lease at below-market rents without public subsidy — is getting demolished to make way for more upscale apartments or for-sale homes, displacing residents. At the same time, last week's report notes, federal subsidies for more than 1,500 affordable units are at risk of expiring within the next decade without renewed investment.

Read more here.

Cox Media Group