On March 2nd and 3rd, the Charlotte City Council held its 2026 Annual Strategy Meeting at the Ballantyne Hotel. As the event closed, councilmembers expressed a renewed focus on trust, transparency, and execution, as they and senior staff outlined priorities for public safety, mobility, housing, and economic growth as they head into the next budget cycle.
Over two days of discussions, council members emphasized the importance of strengthening working relationships amid heightened political pressure and rapid population growth. Conversations centered on what defines a high-performing governing body, with members citing competence, transparency, benevolence and reliability as core factors in building trust.
Public safety framed as shared responsibility
The discussion during the first day focused on strategies to build what council members described as the “safest city” through both law enforcement and non-law enforcement approaches.
Chief Patterson reported a 9% decrease in overall crime in the past year, including a 21% drop in violent crime and a 6% decline in property crime. She credited data-driven policing, expanded community engagement and investments in technology such as real-time camera integration and in-car camera testing.
Council members pressed for continued attention to police recruitment and retention, noting burnout among officers in the three-to-five-year range and competition from neighboring agencies.
At the same time, city leaders highlighted alternative approaches aimed at addressing root causes of crime. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Community Policing Crisis Response Team, which pairs officers with social workers trained in mental health response, has doubled in size from six to 12 members since its launch.
Rebecca Hefner, Housing and Neighborhood Services Director, said stable housing remains foundational to long-term safety outcomes. “The challenge isn’t just mental health,” she said. “It’s a lack of affordable housing. When someone is stably housed, they have the space and time to address other challenges.”
Council members also discussed expanding youth programming through the Office of Youth Opportunity and strengthening collaboration with Mecklenburg County, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and nonprofit partners.
Several council members agreed public safety is a team sport and can’t be done alone.
Mobility investment takes center stage
With the recently approved 1-cent sales tax expected to generate billions over the coming decades, council members turned their attention to implementing a generational mobility plan.
A national panel of mobility leaders — including former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt and CEO of Friends of the Underline Eulois Cleckley — encouraged the council to stay focused on long-term goals despite short-term challenges.
City transportation staff outlined next steps for “Big Moves” projects prioritized for the next five years, along with continued work on Vision Zero, which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Officials reported that 13% of city streets make up the High-Injury Network but account for approximately 80% of serious crashes.
To address that disparity, the city is prioritizing safety investments along those corridors, including intersection redesigns, signal timing adjustments, enhanced crosswalk visibility and traffic-calming measures. Staff also said crash investigations are conducted within weeks of a fatal incident to identify immediate and long-term infrastructure improvements, with additional funding made possible through the new mobility sales tax.
Council members called for greater transparency in tracking progress and celebrating completed projects, while ensuring that investments support small business participation and workforce development.
Discussions also included the ongoing I-77 Express Lanes proposal led by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). NCDOT officials have extended the request for proposals deadline to June to allow for additional community input. Council members urged continued engagement with West End neighborhoods and greater clarity on community benefits and alternatives.
Transit authority transition underway
The meeting also included an update on the transition of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) to the Mecklenburg Public Transportation Authority under the state’s PAVE Act. A master agreement between the city and the new authority must be in place by July 1, 2026, with employee and asset transfers phased in through 2027 and beyond.
City Manager Marcus Jones emphasized protecting employees and the city’s financial position during the transition. “Our employees are number one,” he said. “We won’t negatively impact them, and we have to protect the finances of the city.”
Council members raised questions about reporting structures, liability transfers and long-term governance, with staff noting that the new authority will report to the state but maintain certain reporting obligations to the city.
Housing, economic development and performance goals
Housing policy remained a central theme, particularly in transit-oriented areas. Officials highlighted $49 million from the most recent housing bond dedicated to anti-displacement efforts and ongoing work to streamline accessory dwelling unit designs and permitting.
Economic development updates included requests tied to major facilities such as Truist Field and the Charlotte Ballet, as well as long-term needs at Discovery Place and the Charlotte Gateway Station. Council members stressed the importance of aligning investments with measurable economic impact and workforce outcomes.
While council’s overarching strategic priorities remain unchanged — Great Neighborhoods, Safe Communities, Transportation and Planning, Well-Managed Government, and Workforce Business Development — members agreed that the initiatives supporting those priorities will evolve. Among the changes discussed was the removal of the standalone “digital divide” initiative, with elements of broadband access and connectivity expected to be incorporated into broader workforce and equity strategies.
As the retreat concluded, members debated refinements to council’s strategic priorities and performance measures, including whether to elevate transparency, sustainability and resilience as more explicit goals. Some called for removing completed initiatives, such as the Unified Development Ordinance, from the priority list while ensuring implementation remains on track.
The annual strategy meeting sets the framework for upcoming budget discussions and committee work, with council expected to revisit several of the outlined initiatives in the months ahead.
My Take: After the original meeting day left them iced out and then snowed in the following week, Charlotte City Council finally held its annual Strategy Session a bit later than intended. Public safety, mobility, and housing all jumped to the top of the priority list and with good reason. Under the leadership of new Police Chief Patterson, steps are being taken to improve conditions in Uptown as well as other areas of the city. Some of these measures were implemented last year and are going through constant refinements. It’s a good start with much still left to be done.
The passage of the transportation referendum leaves Mecklenburg County well-positioned as resources will be available to improve and expand current infrastructure. Charlotte City Council, the Mecklenburg County Commission, and elected officials from the surrounding towns should communicate frequently with constituents about planned upgrades and completed projects as they come online. This will build renewed confidence with members of these communities.
Finally, the answer on housing is that we need more of it to meet the needs of a growing population and to house all of the additional workers moving to our state. Local government leaders can achieve this by simplifying the process and speeding up the time it takes to get through permitting and inspections so developers and builders don’t have to constantly restart and retool otherwise ordinance-appropriate projects and pass on unexpected fees in the price of the home.
On March 12, the Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in an attempt to bolster the nation’s housing supply. (Link here to article.)
NAHB has previously supported the bill, which had included many favorable positions for the housing industry. But a number of provisions from the House-passed Housing for the 21st Century Act — which NAHB had also supported — were weakened or removed entirely, including regulatory relief for community banks and long-needed updates to the formulas for FHA multifamily loan limits. The current language cuts some of the multifamily loan limits below what HUD currently allows, which will have a detrimental impact on low to moderate income renters.
The most alarming change, however, is a mandate that would force the sale of private property based solely on the type of owner. Section 901(c) would force purpose-built single-family rental housing to be sold within seven years if the new owner is defined as a large institutional investor.
This provision undermines the production of purpose-built single-family rental housing, which typically serves families seeking rental housing with three or more bedrooms. NAHB believes this requirement would severely curtail investment in single-family rental housing.
“The provision requiring institutional investors to sell built-for-rent single-family homes within seven years would severely reduce investment in single-family rental housing and could slash single-family production by nearly 40,000 units per year,” 2026 NAHB Chairman Bill Owens noted in a statement.
NAHB actively advocated to remove this mandate, including outreach to Senate leadership, interviews with key media outlets, and a grassroots advocacy campaign by members this week to emphasize to their Senators the impact of this forced-sale requirement on the housing market.
Following passage of the bill, NAHB is urging a conference between the House and the Senate to reconcile the differences between the House’s Housing for the 21st Century Act and the Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Specifically, NAHB will be calling on House and Senate lawmakers to strike the government mandate to sell rental housing within seven years to ensure it will not lead to a decrease in housing supply and to pass a final package that includes the best housing provisions in each of the respective bills.
My Take: These days housing affordability seems to be on just about everyone’s mind. It’s not just me saying that. I’ve seen polling data over the last two years that indicates it’s a really big concern. In fact it is the top issue for most. It is encouraging that Congress is making an effort to address this, and we know that policy bends and changes, but most of our challenges and impediments to prosperity occur right here at the local level.
The key difference between the Senate and House versions of the bill presented above is the forced divestiture provision that kicks in after seven years of ownership. That’s a problem for builders that build for-rent single family home communities in order to fill a market need. It’s also a problem for those who seek to reinvest realized capital gains in Opportunity Zones where properties must be retained for ten years in order to realize maximum benefit. There’s time for the House and Senate to figure this out, but the clock is ticking.
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