Articles

by Asha Ellison, Angelique Gaines, Jenny Hutchison and Eric Moore

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 resi[…]

by Sydney Idzikowski

The Charlotte Regional Data Trust is an integrated data system where people can make requests of its data for research, evaluation or planning purposes. The Data Trust holds data that represent the Institute’s quality of life domains such as housing and homelessness, education, and safety and justice. Learn more about the projects and requests people have submitted for Data Trust data so far in […]

by Mecca Howe

In January, the Charlotte Urban Institute completed the second phase of a multi-year study to understand the impact of federal administrative changes on Charlotte-area nonprofits. Phase two of the study included both a survey that was distributed to local nonprofit leaders and facilitated focus groups. Data from the January 2026 survey was then compared to data from the first phase of the study, conducted in July 2025. These are the resu[…]

by Fatima Rodriguez Caba

I like to believe that everyone has an interest or hobby they could spend hours talking about. I find particular joy in seeing my family or colleagues’ faces light up when topics like birding, food security or anime are mentioned. More recently, I’ve learned the importance of spending time in someone else’s world and learning what makes their eyes light up. 

For just a moment, I’d like to share a piece of my world with you […]

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’ li[…]

by Sydney Idzikowski and Elaine Jacobs

As a nonprofit organization, the UNC Charlotte Regional Data Trust is governed by a board of directors who are committed to increasing the community’s capacity for data-informed decision-making, and fostering research that impacts the community and deepens understanding of complex community issues. The board has fiduciary oversight over the data and operations of the Data Trust, and also serves in an advisory role over the research and engagement agenda for the Charlotte Urban Insti[…]

by Kailas Venkitasubramanian, Ph.D. and Asha Ellison

Agriculture remains an essential part of the Charlotte region, but it is undergoing a profound transformation. New analysis of the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture shows that while farms are becoming fewer, larger and more productive on average, the long-term future of farming is increasingly uncertain as development pressures, rising land costs and an aging producer population reshape the landscape.

In fact, between 2017 and 2022, the Charlotte region lost 760 farms. Across 14 counties, that’s a decline of eight percent – nearly one in every 13 far[…]

by Annalise Tolley

Within the nonprofit and civil service sector, it’s not uncommon to approach social impact reporting the way we approach math: add up the money, the person power, the activities delivered and expect to get to outcomes. In reality, it’s not usually that simple. What makes or breaks social impact isn’t simply an equation, however, it’s also the human elements.

Things like love, hope, trust and agency–concepts we’re calling “intangibles” because they can’t be easily held in our hands or counted–are often the secret sauce to delivering successful programs and […]

by Bianca Bagley

Vrishab Nooka has a passion to make complex financial information accessible to all  through technology.

The UNC Charlotte sophomore and Charlotte Urban Institute research intern, who recently completed his first year as an economics and computer science major, has dedicated his early studies to research that focuses on how Federal Open Market Committee rates affect certain parts of the stock market – and how to make this information more available to the general public […]

by Liz Morrell

Housing affordability has become one of the defining challenges facing cities across the United States, and Charlotte is no exception. As housing prices continue to rise faster than wages, more residents across the income spectrum are struggling to find stable, affordable places to live.

This is the first article from a series of briefs that will help provide a clearer understanding of how Charlotte’s affordable housing investments shape housing stability, neighborhood conditions and economic opportunity across […]

by Candace Edwards and Sydney Idzikowski

Ever wonder if you’re represented  in the Charlotte Regional Data Trust?

Since 2016, more than a million Mecklenburg County residents (1,079,074) have been part of the Data Trust. And that’s because our data are people […]

by Bianca Bagley

The Charlotte region continues to grow. It seems like everywhere you turn there are new housing developments, shopping centers and schools being built to support our population. Data from the 2025 census illustrates this phenomenon. The Queen City is becoming an increasingly popular destination for domestic and international migrants alike with Charlotte being named one of the top five metropolitan areas for growth between July 2024 and July 2025.

In fact, between 2020 and 2025, the 14-county Charlotte metropolitan region that includes Anson, Cabarrus, Catawba, Chester, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lancaster, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Rowan, Stanly, Union, and York counties in North and South Carolina added 289,331 residents […]