Articles About Housing & Homelessness
In Charlotte, one neighborhood more than any other came to represent the housing crisis. Built between 2002 and 2004, the Windy Ridge neighborhood of 133 small, single-family homes fell victim. By 2008, 60 percent of the neighborhood’s homes were in foreclosure. Crime rates rose, property values plummeted and the homeowners association couldn’t afford to keep […]
Home. The word means many different things to many different people. For some, it might be a house. For others, it might be a park bench or a tent behind a supermarket. Just as homes can take many forms, so can homelessness. I was forced to reflect on this last month, as a volunteer with […]
Whether you want to look up data or understand an issue or trend affecting the Charlotte region, the online resources of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute are available to help you. There are also many other programs on campus that work with local groups. The institute offers articles and data on a range of issues […]
As hundreds of apartments pop up around transit stations in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood near uptown, the city’s plan for more high-density housing near its young rail line is beginning to take shape. But a sister policy encouraging apartments for low-income families isn’t faring as well. In the six years since the Lynx Blue Line […]
A U.S. Postal Service change requiring the use of centralized box units in new neighborhoods is causing problems in some developments being forced to switch in mid-construction. Joe Padilla of the Charlotte-based Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, an industry advocacy group, alerted planners and elected officials to the change in home-delivery strategies at an […]
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department won’t pursue zoning regulations aimed at dealing with rent-by-the-bedroom apartment complexes near colleges and universities. But it will continue working to solve parking and transportation issues near the schools. The staff recommendation October 21 to the City Council’s Transportation and Planning Committee means students and residents living near UNC Charlotte and […]
An artists’ colony in downtown Gastonia? Sounds far-fetched. But after studies, surveys and a yearlong fundraising campaign, it’s getting closer to reality. In May, the Community Foundation of Gaston County signed a pre-development contract with Artspace, a Minneapolis nonprofit that builds and maintains affordable live-work units for artists, to build a project in Gastonia by […]
It took them two years to design and build it, but over the next two weeks, a team of UNC Charlotte architecture, business and engineering students will tear down their solar-powered home, Urban Eden. But that’s only because the home must be deconstructed, loaded on a flatbed trailer and shipped to Orange County, Calif., where […]
Will Americans continue to be suburban creatures? The question has been widely debated by developers, planners and the press since the Great Recession. Surveys showing preferences for urban, walkable, in-town neighborhoods have been called fads by some, or hailed by others as the end of suburbia. Ultimately, it will be the attitudes of the Millennial […]
The Charlotte City Council, with no discussion, Monday unanimously OK’d a measure to try to encourage developers to build more low-income housing in affluent neighborhoods. The council also heard a series of pro- and con- speeches concerning a proposed outlet-store center in southwest Mecklenburg County. The affordable housing measure, an amendment to the city zoning […]
Brightwalk is unique among Charlotte’s new developments. Part of that is size and location. It’s on 98 acres of redeveloped infill property along Statesville Avenue, about 2 miles from uptown. It will offer more than 1,000 single-family homes, townhomes and apartments – including senior housing and a day-care facility, all of it arranged around green […]
New single-family residential building permits in Mecklenburg County have been on a roller coaster ride since 2003. But preliminary numbers show a promising upswing heading into 2013. Using U.S. Census Bureau data1 to examine the previous decade’s trends tracking back to 2003, what can we expect for new construction as we move forward in 2013? […]