Affordable Housing

Jason Puckett  00:00

This is the Centra Square Apartments development in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlotte. And at first glance, it looks like a typical housing complex. They've got apartments mixed with townhomes. And amenities, like large rec rooms, outdoor entertainment spaces, even elevators

Lee Cochran  00:14

The fit, the finishes, all of that are designed to be essentially the same as what they do and in the market rate world.

Jason Puckett  00:20

But dig a bit deeper, and there are a few things that make this complex special.

Lee Cochran  00:25

Units rent for anywhere from about $550 to $950 a month. In addition to that, over 10% of the units here have folks living in them that have rental assistance that actually helped them even additionally pay for those units.

Jason Puckett  00:39

A one bedroom at Centra Square runs $575 to $675. For comparison, nearby apartments cost about $1,200 to $1,600 a month. Townhomes either don't exist or cost between $1,800 to $2,600 a month, or as Lee Cochran with the developer Laurel Street put it:

Lee Cochran  00:56

Rents for units like this, in other parts of Charlotte, or even in this neighborhood, would rent for at least double that, if not triple that in some cases.

Jason Puckett  01:05

So what makes Centra Square so much more affordable than surrounding developments? Well, it's partly due to who owns the land.

Rev. Dr. Robert C Scott  01:13

I'm just glad that we can do a little something to help the City of Charlotte as far as our housing shortage is concerned.

Jason Puckett  01:19

Senior Pastor Robert C. Scott and church leaders at St. Paul Baptist noticed a steep price hike on homes in the neighborhood.

Rev. Dr. Robert C Scott  01:26

It is crazy, that the neighborhood in which my church is located, probably 10 to 15 years ago, a two or three bedroom small house that usually went for about $90,000 to maybe $110,000 is now going for anywhere between $290,000 to $350,000.

Jason Puckett  01:46

The church decided they needed to help.

Rev. Dr. Robert C Scott  01:49

The beginning of the process started with my predecessor, the Reverend Dr. Greg Moss. And as our neighborhood was beginning to go through gentrification, he decided that St. Paul is really an anchor in this community. And so he wanted to do something that will help us to be able to administer in this community in a more tangible way.

Jason Puckett  02:10

They broke ground in 2016, working with developer Laurel Street to turn the church's parking lots of extra land into 112 affordable housing units in the heart of the Belmont neighborhood. When

Rev. Dr. Robert C Scott  02:21

When I got into town back in October 2016. Charlotte had a housing deficit of close to 30,000 units, which is just astounding. So our 112 units, it's just really a drop in the bucket. But I think that our capacity to be able to give up our land, which was a sacrifice, to provide housing for at least 112 families is so worth it.

Jason Puckett  02:52

The church, St Paul, is contributing their land. The developer, Laurel Street worked with them to make the property a reality. And the last step is the City of Charlotte's Housing Trust Fund, or HTF. Established in 2001, the trust fund uses voter approved housing bonds to support affordable housing and shelter options throughout the city. In the last 20 years, HTF has provided more than $230 million to fund local development, organizations and more. And that has resulted in the creation and preservation of nearly 11,000 affordable housing units in the city. Centra Square is the perfect example of the HTF working in action with multiple local partners.

Lee Cochran  03:31

In this case, the major partners, Laurel Street, we're the developer, St. Paul Baptist church brought the land to the table in a great neighborhood. And then we also had the City of Charlotte's Housing Trust Fund, that we could not have built this without the investment from the Housing Trust Fund.

Rev. Dr. Robert C Scott  03:46

The city of course, providing tax credits and funds to make that a work in reality, we could not have done this without them. Of course, we know that Bank of America, the developers putting up some funds, we put up the land, but we couldn't have done it without the city. It was just a wonderful collaboration. And I would say that it was really providential and how well that came together.

Jason Puckett  04:10

So Centra Square here is an example of how the city and the Housing Trust Fund have worked to bring more affordable housing options to the area. Faith based partnerships like this are just one of the few ways we will be discussing in the coming months. Now if you want more information on Centra Square check out their website at this link, where you can find out more about the Housing Trust Fund at Charlottenc.gov.

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hello and welcome to my new household home.

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[Music]

Meet Cathy Bailey

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hello everybody my name is Kathy Bailey

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and I'm an employee here with housing

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and neighborhood services within the

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city of Charlotte and I've been with the

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apartment now for 28 years I've just

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become a homeowner

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[Music]

Why Cathy Bought a New Home

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the reason I decided to buy a new home

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is because a home is investment you pay

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yourself and not the landlord in today's

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markets homes are cheaper than paying

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rent for instance the apartment that I Cathy’s Housing Payments, Before and After

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just left was a one bedroom 800 square

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feet my rent starting October 1st was

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going up to thirteen hundred dollars my

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new house payment is two bedrooms 1368

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square feet with a two-car garage and my

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payments are 13.62 and get this will

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decrease after four years

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[Music]

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foreign

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[Music]

Cathy describes the House Charlotte homebuying process.

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to start the home buying process I had

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to present my financial information to

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Ron Mason to make sure that I was within

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and not over the 80 percent medium

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income range I was then given a list of

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preferred House Charlotte lenders I

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apply it for the mortgage and got

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pre-approved I then had to take an

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eight-hour homebuyer education course

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which included a one-on-one budget

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session which was very helpful Cathy recommends the House Charlotte program.

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now that I've completed the home buying

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process my thoughts on the house

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Charlotte program oh my God is a

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fantastic program that helps individuals

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and families such as myself become

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homeowner the house Charlotte program

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provided me the down payment that I

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needed to successfully achieve my goal

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of becoming a homeowner the home buyer

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program helped me to understand how the

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loan process works what's involved doing

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the closing and tips on paying and

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maintaining my mortgage

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foreign Ron Mason, House Charlotte Program Manager, describes the House Charlotte program.

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hello my name is Ronald Mason I'm a

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program manager with housing enabled

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Services I oversee the house Charlotte

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home buying assistance program offered

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by the city of Charlotte the house

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Charlotte program provides up to thirty

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thousand dollars in assistance and can

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be used to pay for interest rate buy

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down closing costs as well as down

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payment

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since 2019 until today the program has

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assisted over 939 households throughout

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the city we hope you will be able to use

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our down payment assistance to help with

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your home buying needs to see if you're How to See if You’re Eligible for the House Charlotte Down Payment Assistance Program

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eligible for the house Charlotte down

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payment assistance program call Our

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House Charlotte team at 704

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705-3999 or you can reach me Ron Mason

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at

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704-336-2754 or check us out online

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howcharlotteprogram.com

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thank you