Charlotte residents can add their voices to the city’s ongoing discussions about affordable housing during Monday's City Council meeting.
Each year, the City of Charlotte creates an ‘action plan’ for using federal funds to support the city’s housing and community development projects. The plan for fiscal year 2019 is up f0r comment during a public forum Monday night.
The City anticipates receiving nearly $10.3 million in U.S Housing and Urban Development funds during the next fiscal year, including a community development block grant of more than $5.3 million. Nearly $2.3 million federal dollars would come through a grant designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households.
The annual federal funding process comes as Charlotte works toward a three-year goal of adding 5,000 units to its stock of affordable housing – a plan announced in October 2016. Mayor Vi Lyles said in February that the City was about two-thirds of the way toward reaching that goal.
According to the action plan, Charlotte continues to face a “critical shortage” of housing available to families at or below 80 percent of the area’s median income. City leaders have discussed a range of possible solutions, from adding more money to a voter-approved housing trust fund, to buying older homes and apartments that could be preserved as affordable housing.
The public hearing begins shortly after 6:30 p.m. at the government center.
