On November 20th, at The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City, the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate released the 2024 State of Housing in Charlotte with an in-person and virtual summit. Every market segment was deconstructed. Every trend defined. Data pointed again to the desperate needs we face in housing availability. It also made clear that over 75% of our residents cannot afford a median priced home, shutting out a huge segment of the market that was active only 5 years ago. We just aren’t catching up fast enough.
Although housing affordability data shows we are in a slightly better position than last year, a family income of just over $138,000 is still needed to even purchase a median priced home. The sobering fact is that in 2014 75% of the homes sold were under $300K, now that number has dwindled to only 19% in 2024.
From 2014 to 2023, the overall Charlotte metro area grew by more than 471,750 people with the number of new households exceeding 243,650. In its sixth year of reporting the stand-out metrics provided by Dr. Chu preceded a panel discussion that centered around the critical need to meet the moment and implement common sense approaches that allow industry to address the growing need for more housing. As our elected officials refine the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and other area land use rules, the approach must now be to target the areas where inflexibility can be eased, and to do it quickly.
2024 State of Housing in Charlotte Executive Summary
2024 State of Housing in Charlotte Report
My take: This isn’t just a problem with housing, this will impede our ability to thrive if we can’t demolish policy-making silos, erase preconceived notions about builders and developers, and dig in and deal with regulatory complexities that are taking too long to unravel. And furthermore, with public groups still pushing back on multi-family and rental units in infill areas due to faulty perceptions about what they believe are the negative effects of density, knowledge needs to spread by every voice. If we are to emerge from this crisis, (and I would guess that every large city around the country is sitting at this same table of issues) we have to decide what our goal is, not point fingers. We have to stop fearing what happens if we look at our ordinances as promptings for logic, not guardrails we cannot move. We have to shed the notion that preserving the old character of Charlotte will make us better off than leaning into the facts about how to house our incoming neighbors. Would we rather burden our transportation corridors with extra traffic, intensify mental health issues because of the strain of long-distance commutes, and say the perimeter around a tree is more sacred than those who want to make our city better with new ideas, new opportunity, and new energy? Charlotte Council Member Ed Driggs and Planning Director Alyson Craig both recently shared with us that the sentiment inside the staff and government offices is to find common ground, now. Let’s make our industry heard and engage, engage, engage.
Recently, the General Assembly passed legislation, Senate Bill 382, containing a myriad of items and the ratified bill is currently sitting on the Governor’s desk awaiting his action. One of the more notable and perhaps least noticed items is contained on page 131:
|
|
 |