Articles about Housing and Homelessness

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One Large Shift: A Culture of Cooperatives
   March 7, 2023

Greg Jarrell

Editor’s Note: This article is a part of a series of guest contributors considering the question, “What small tweak or large shift would you make in 2023 that would catalyze sustainable growth and ensure equitable wellbeing in our region?” 

“A nation of homeowners, of people who won a...

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Report: 2022 Matthews Housing Needs Assessment

On February 27, 2023, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and Town of Matthews shared findings from the 2022 Matthews Housing Needs Assessment. The study report includes findings about demographics, housing, land use, and key informant perspectives related to Matthews’ housing. The report also offers...

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Housing Policies and Ice Cream
   January 12, 2023
Aaron Houck

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. If you are like me and most other people, you like ice cream—a food that almost perfectly matches our brains’ evolved desire for sweet, fatty, calorie-rich foods. 

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Introducing the homelessness prevention integrated data report
   October 31, 2022
Bridget Anderson
Jenny Hutchinson, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute

(This article has been reposted with permission from the Building Bridges Blog. To see original article, visit http://mecklenburghousingdata.org/)

Last year my family found itself in a difficult situation. As we approached the end of our lease, our landlord notified us that our rent would increase $150 per month if we renewed....

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Four things I wish I'd known about Charlotte's housing market before I started writing about it
   September 15, 2022
Ely Portillo

No local issue has been bigger than housing in Charlotte for the past few years — specifically, how much it costs to find a place to live. 

The soaring cost of housing dominates local news, local government meetings and local conversations. Talk to anyone in Charlotte, and it won’t be long before you hear some version of the following stories: Cruising some Zillow listings in a nearby...

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Local leaders are worried about corporate landlords, but find their ‘hands tied’
   April 13, 2022
Ely Portillo

Wall Street-backed companies are buying thousands of single-family homes and turning them into rentals across the Charlotte region. Local officials are worried about the effects on affordability, home ownership and equity — but there isn’t much they can do to directly stop the trend. 

That’s what Mecklenburg County commissioners heard this week from county staff and a panel of local...

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Examining housing needs at Brookhill Village in the event of redevelopment
   February 10, 2022

In 2020, Lookout Housing Ventures proposed a redevelopment plan for Brookhill Village, a 36-acre naturally occurring affordable housing development near the intersection of Remount Road and South Boulevard. Although the proposed development has not moved forward, the approximately 120 households of Brookhill Village may be at risk of displacement if Brookhill Village were to be redeveloped...

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With homeless numbers rising, Charlotte-Mecklenburg works on a new plan
   September 14, 2021
Ely Portillo

With the number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County rising dramatically in the past year, local governments, nonprofit organizations and businesses are gearing up to implement a new plan over the next few years. 

A major goal of the 2025 Charlotte-Mecklenburg...

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Watch: Housing, urban renewal and equity in Charlotte
   August 25, 2021

Decades of housing policy, from redlining to legal segregation to "urban renewal," have left Charlotte a deeply unequal city, contributing to a large racial wealth gap and vastly different rates of homeownership between residents of different races.

On Aug. 24, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute researcher Angelique Gaines and assistant director Ely Portillo joined local experts for a...

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