Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region hosted a wall building event on October 20 at The Meadows at Plato Price, a community development project consisting entirely of affordable homes.

The Meadows at Plato Price will be a 39-home development on Charlotte's west side, off Morris Field Drive. Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region broke ground on the project in June and infrastructure is currently underway.

Rebecca Hefner and Warren Wooten from the City of Charlotte's Housing & Neighborhood Services department, along with other key investing representatives, participated in a "walling building" ceremony on site for the first house that will begin construction this fall. Six homes are slated to be completed by June 30, 2023.

The City of Charlotte donated the land to the organization, along with Community Development Block Grant funding.  Ally Charitable Foundation, The Merancas Foundation and Myers Park United Methodist Church have each matched the City's principal investment of $1M.

The site is the former location of the Plato Price School, the centerpiece of a thriving African-American neighborhood. The school closed in the 1960s when desegregation took hold and busing to white schools was the norm. After years of planning, the City of Charlotte donated the nine-acre property to Habitat in 2019.

The $10.6M community development is expected to be completed by 2025, Habitat's largest housing development to date.

Once complete, all 39 homes at The Meadows at Plato Price will be affordable and available for purchase – offering Charlotte residents an opportunity to become homeowners at an affordable price.

Homeownership as an Affordable Housing Strategy

As Charlotte's booming real estate market continues to thrive, providing access to homeownership continues to be an important and growing part of the city's affordable housing strategy.

The Meadows at Plato Price is one of several new, city-supported construction developments that support homeownership. Other city-supported new homeownership construction include Vantage Point Townhomes and Phoenix Rising.

Vantage Point townhomes will consist of 26 townhomes located at La Salle and Augusta streets. Of the 26 townhomes, 14 townhomes were previously completed, and 12 will be underway next month. Phoenix Rising will provide a for-sale, affordable housing option on 2.4 acres currently owned by the city for low to moderate income households earning up to 80% of the area median income.

In addition to building new, affordable homes for sale, the City of Charlotte also provides many education programs and financial assistance for qualified potential homebuyers.

The city works with our partners, including the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) and DreamKey Partners, to provide  housing education programs for potential homebuyers, including financial literacy, pre-homeownership counseling, and foreclosure prevention. Topics covered in these classes include budgeting, credit repair, mortgage loan approval, assisting in locating a home and assisting in negotiating mortgage loan terms and the purchase price, and mortgage loan closing process.

The House Charlotte homeownership assistance program offers deferred and forgivable loan options for qualified potential homebuyers. Up to $30,000 can be used to cover down payment, closing costs, or interest rate buy down.

Last fiscal year, 97 families purchased homes with House Charlotte homeownership assistance.

The Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resell (ARR) program is a city initiative that helps keep for-sale homes affordable. Homes that need repairs are purchased and rehabilitated. After the rehabilitation is complete, the home is then sold at an affordable price that is often below market to a low- or moderate-income household.

The ARR program includes deed restrictions to keep homes affordable, while also helping families build generational wealth. Importantly, it provides an opportunity for buyers to compete with institutional investors. This program offers low-to-moderate income families the opportunity to purchase homes, live in them, and build generational wealth, instead of homes being sold to investors. Creating this option is crucial, particularly considering the increasingly limited supply of affordable homes available on the market.

The ARR program was launched in 2021, with an initial $1.5 million investment authorized by City Council. To date, 25 units have been purchased, with an average subsidy of $30,000.