Affordable housing in Charlotte: Exploring housing stability and supports for residents
by Asha Ellison, Angelique Gaines, Jenny Hutchison, Ph.D., and Eric Moore, Ph.D.
Affordable housing is about more than having a place to live. For residents, housing stability can affect whether they are able to remain in their homes and communities, while access to additional supports can help address challenges that extend beyond the cost of rent. For Charlotte, these considerations are particularly important as the City continues to invest public dollars in affordable housing through its Housing Trust Fund, or HTF.
The first article in the “Affordable housing in Charlotte” series explored Charlotte’s growing housing affordability challenges, the role of the HTF and why long-term investment in affordable housing matters. It also introduced the broader research project, explored through the second article, which begins to examine several dimensions of the HTF, including its relationship to neighborhood stability and the types of supports available to affordable housing residents. This, the third article in the series, focuses on two questions: How is housing stability changing in neighborhoods with Housing Trust Fund-financed properties, and what does research tell us about supports beyond rental assistance that can help affordable housing residents?
Housing Trust Fund investments and neighborhood stability
Housing instability can take many forms. It includes situations like frequent moves, evictions, overcrowding and spending a disproportionately large share of household income on housing. In Mecklenburg County, the challenge is widespread: about half of renter households and more than one-fifth of homeowners are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than a third of their income on housing.
The research brief “Financing Affordable Housing through the Charlotte Housing Trust Fund: Impact on Housing Stability at the Neighborhood Level” examines whether neighborhoods with Housing Trust Fund-financed multifamily properties experienced different changes in housing stability when compared to similar neighborhoods without HTF properties.
To make the comparison, researchers matched neighborhoods with HTF-financed housing to similar neighborhoods without HTF multifamily properties, taking into account factors including previous levels of housing instability, the amount of affordable housing in and around the neighborhood and demographic characteristics. They then examined changes between 2015 and 2023 using a measure of housing instability that incorporates factors such as housing costs, the share of cost-burdened renters and evictions.
The analysis found that housing stability improved in both groups of neighborhoods, but improvements were greater among neighborhoods with HTF properties.
Housing Trust Fund Research Team
Between 2015 and 2023, HTF neighborhoods exhibit improvements in levels of housing instability, with improvements more likely to occur in these neighborhoods than similar neighborhoods. The findings show an association between HTF-supported housing and greater improvements in neighborhood housing stability. They do not, however, establish that Housing Trust Fund investments caused those improvements. Other factors may have contributed to changes in housing stability, and researchers note that additional research is needed to better understand the potential causal pathways. The study also relied on eviction data available only through 2018, underscoring the value of more recent data for future analysis.
[Read the full brief: Financing Affordable Housing through the Charlotte Housing Trust Fund: Impact on Housing Stability at the Neighborhood Level]
What happens beyond rental assistance?
Affordable housing can help address one of the most immediate challenges facing households with low incomes: the cost of housing. But residents may also face other barriers to financial stability and quality of life, including challenges related to employment, education, transportation, child care, and access to health and social services.
The brief “Examining Supports Beyond Rental Assistance for Residents of Affordable Housing Units” looks at what the existing U.S. research can tell us about programs that provide these types of additional support to residents of affordable housing.
Researchers reviewed studies of three types of programs that generally offer an array of services, the first two of which are large federally funded programs: Jobs Plus, which provides employment-related services and other supports to public housing residents; Family Self-Sufficiency, or FSS, which combines services such as financial coaching, case management, education and employment assistance for people receiving Housing Choice Vouchers; and a group of other resident-support programs that offered services such as health and wellness programs, youth programming, financial literacy, job training, eviction prevention and assistance with basic needs. The federally-funded programs sought to improve earnings and employment, while the other programs looked at housing stability and health.
The findings were mixed, and the research does not point to one type of support as consistently producing better outcomes. For example, studies of Jobs Plus found some evidence of sustained earnings gains, while findings for Family Self-Sufficiency programs varied. One study of FSS found that only five percent of eligible residents enrolled, highlighting the challenge of meeting a wide range of resident needs and structuring programs to maintain engagement with voluntary support programs. While findings were mixed, properties with stronger leadership and greater consistency in the implementation realized better results particularly in terms of increased earnings.
Research on other affordable housing support programs also produced mixed results. Some studies found no difference in tenant turnover or evictions between properties that offered services and those that did not. However, one study found that properties offering services had lower costs associated with tenant turnover, maintenance and bad debt. Another found that residents with previous lease violations who used services were more likely to remain housed, with retention associated with services such as child care, assistance obtaining benefits and food support, as well as programs that built social connections.
Together, the research suggests that support services may complement affordable housing, but their effectiveness can depend on the type of service, how programs are designed and implemented. The findings also underscore the spectrum of needs and intentions that exist for residents of subsidized housing, which may require additional support for some, but not everyone.
[Read the full brief: Examining Supports Beyond Rental Assistance for Residents of Affordable Housing Units]
Looking at affordable housing from multiple angles
These two briefs offer different perspectives on a central question raised by Charlotte’s investment in affordable housing: What difference might affordable housing make beyond simply providing an affordable place to live?
The neighborhood-level analysis found that neighborhoods with HTF properties experienced greater improvements in housing stability than similar neighborhoods without HTF properties, while also emphasizing that the findings do not establish a causal relationship. The review of resident support programs found evidence that some services may help residents with employment, financial stability, housing retention and other needs, but results vary across programs and participation can be a significant challenge.
Together, these findings suggest that the value of affordable housing may extend beyond the homes themselves. Housing Trust Fund-supported neighborhoods have seen meaningful improvements in housing stability, and research suggests that services addressing employment, financial stability and other needs may provide additional support for residents. While more research is needed to understand these relationships, the findings underscore the potential for affordable housing investments to contribute to stability for both residents and the communities where they live.
Note: ChatGPT was used to edit and streamline summaries of the research briefs.