Publications & Reports

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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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Connecting for Stability: Understanding The Relatives and the Young People They Serve
   February 22, 2023
Jenny Hutchison, Sydney Idzikowski
Trish Hobson, Executive Director - The Relatives

As a community, we often talk about the young people who are the “most vulnerable” or who are at “high risk.” Admittedly, we don’t always know who exactly those young people are and what their experiences have been. And far too often, those labels become the only story we associate with them. We don’t always know how to...

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Survey sheds light on the future of Charlotte’s creative community
   August 10, 2022
Ely Portillo

When it comes to the creative scene, Charlotte isn’t often mentioned in the same breath with peer cities like Austin or Nashville. After all, the city’s unofficial tagline is “Banktown,” not something like “Music City” or “Keep Austin Weird.”

But Charlotte has a thriving creative...

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Corporate landlords include exclusionary language in rental housing listings
   July 7, 2022
Ely Portillo

A new study of online rental housing advertisements in Charlotte found that corporate landlords are more likely to include potentially exclusionary language in their listings, and those listings are largely concentrated in minority communities. 

That’s one of the key results from a study by UNC Charlotte scholars Providence Adu, a PhD Student in the Department of Geography and Earth...

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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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An ‘economic halo’ for rural churches in North Carolina
   January 11, 2022
Ely Portillo

In small towns across North Carolina, churches function as more than places of fellowship and gathering for people — they’re also de facto economic engines. 

...

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How are Housing Choice Vouchers distributed across Southeastern Cities?
   October 29, 2021
Katie Zager
Providence Adu

This research was used by USA Today for an investigative series called 'Segregated by Section 8.' The series is available online here (subscriber-only...

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How can we measure the developmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young children?
   October 11, 2021
Sydney Idzikowski

Across the United States and around the world, children and families are starting a new school year. Typically a time of excitement and new beginnings, the first day of school has again been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We’ve learned a lot about the virus over the past 18 months. However, the ways in which COVID-19 impacts the youngest children (from birth to age 5),...

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