Housing

Containment policies, such as Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs), are becoming more widespread as metro regions try to control sprawl and revitalize central cities. Mecklenburg County’s northeastern neighbor, Cabarrus County, has tried such an approach in hopes of preserving small town atmospheres and farmland. Disappearing farmland and mounting pressure from developers reached an apex in 2004. […]

Since 1993 the City of Charlotte has tallied information about some (and in later years all) city neighborhoods, in its regular Quality of Life reports. But this year major changes are afoot for the project, which opened its online doors to the public on Monday. The report now covers all of Mecklenburg County, and it’s […]

In Charlotte: The Praise Connor and Harriett Lee House3714 Country Ridge Road in the Mountainbrook neighborhoodBuilt in 1963; designed by architect Praise Connor LeeDesignated in 2002 The Robert and Elizabeth Lassiter House726 Hempstead Place in Eastover neighborhoodBuilt in 1951 (oldest Modernist house in Charlotte); designed by architect A.G. OdellDesignated in 2003 In Davidson: The James […]

Just like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Nick Carraway, who went “East, permanently, I thought,” in 1922 in The Great Gatsby, people today are on the move and looking for a place to rent. Fitzgerald’s Carraway – a recent college graduate, returning war veteran and single – hopes to start his career in the bond business. […]

Photos by Nancy PierceClick here to read related story.

Salisbury is one of the first 17 recipients of the new HUD “Choice Neighborhoods” Planning Grants. The program is part of a new approach by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that is replacing its HOPE VI projects. In addition, Salisbury has been chosen for a case study by the International City/County Management […]

The Charlotte neighborhoods of Belmont and Villa Heights are experiencing an influx of white, professional residents in search of affordable housing close to uptown. Piedmont Courts, a housing project that dates to the 1940s, is gone, and crime is declining. Click here to read the article about the neighborhoods’ revival. Photographs by Nancy Pierce.

In the McEniry building at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, students moved out the chairs on a recent afternoon to clear the room for guests and presentations. Pizza boxes, soft drinks and ice arrived for a reception for students in Janni Sorensen’s social inequality and planning class. It was time for a celebration. […]

As Charlotte’s real estate market continues to recover from one of the worst economic downturns in modern times, it might be easy to assume that housing affordability is no longer an issue of great concern. But in south Charlotte and other highly desirable parts of Mecklenburg County, home prices continue to remain out of reach […]

Is it prescient and forward-thinking for the city to encourage subsidized housing at rapid transit stations in coming decades? Or would that be the nail in the coffin, killing any near-term chance to halt a pattern of sinking property values near some of those stations, especially in troubled parts of east and northeast Charlotte? Two […]