Affordable housing in Charlotte: Why tenant data and resident outcomes matter for the Housing Trust Fund
by the Charlotte Urban Institute
Charlotte’s affordable housing challenges did not develop overnight and a solution to the city’s concerns will take coordinated effort – and time. As home prices and rents continue to outpace wages, and construction costs rise, the City of Charlotte’s Housing Trust Fund, also referred to as HTF, has become one of the community’s primary tools for creating and preserving housing that remains affordable for households with lower to moderate incomes. But understanding whether these investments are making a lasting difference requires looking at more than just the number of housing units built to meet immediate and projected needs – it also means asking who is being served and how stable, affordable housing shapes these residents’ lives.
To help answer those questions, the Charlotte Urban Institute, in partnership with UNC Charlotte faculty and community experts, examined two important aspects of the Housing Trust Fund.
This is the second article in the “Affordable housing in Charlotte” series which provides, through research briefs, a clearer understanding of how Charlotte’s affordable housing investments shape housing stability, neighborhood conditions and economic opportunity across the city. Click here to read the first article. It delves into how housing affordability has become one of the defining challenges facing cities across the nation, and pays particular attention to our home, the Queen City.
As we continue our exploration of this critical housing juncture, Institute and Charlotte Regional Data Trust authors Jenny Hutchison and Sydney Idzikowski, focus on the “who” and “how” of data collection in the brief titled, “Housing Trust Fund Tenant Data: What data is collected and how to access it?” Here, both walk through what was found in a data inventory conducted by the research team. What they uncovered: while the City can access unit-level information—such as income and rent payments—through shared systems with the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, there are significant gaps in demographic and household-type data. This brief provides a roadmap for the City to better manage and analyze this information to truly understand the population being served, and the impact that financing for affordable housing has on the quality of life of Charlotte residents.
In the next brief, “Expected Outcomes for Residents of Multi-Family Rental Properties Supported by LIHTC & the Charlotte Housing Trust Fund,” authors Angelique Gaines and Mia Gaddy examine how affordable housing investment shapes residents’ lives. They do this by reviewing research on residents living in affordable housing financed through the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, also known as LIHTC. LIHTC is the primary federal program used alongside Charlotte’s Housing Trust Fund for the development of multifamily rental properties. Although research on resident outcomes remains limited, existing studies suggest that affordable housing can reduce housing cost burdens, provide greater financial stability, support children’s educational success, help older adults age in place, and create opportunities for residents to pursue employment advancement.
Why this information matters: The briefs identify important gaps in current research and outline opportunities for Charlotte to better measure the long-term impact of its affordable housing investments. Together, they offer a deeper understanding of why collecting better data – and studying resident experiences – is essential to evaluating how the Housing Trust Fund supports housing stability, economic opportunity and community well-being.
Don’t miss the next article in this series. You can keep up with the Charlotte Urban Institute’s analysis of Charlotte’s affordable housing by visiting the Institute’s website at ui.charlotte.edu or signing up for our monthly newsletter here.
Note: ChatGPT and NotebookLM to streamline summaries of the research briefs.