Mecklenburg County, nonprofit partner to purchase homes, keep rent affordable

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Mecklenburg County leaders and a nonprofit will announce a partnership on Tuesday to protect affordable housing in the Hoskins neighborhood of northwest Charlotte.

The area, along Hoskins Road, is off Rozzelles Ferry Road near I-85, and is a place county leaders say is currently in transition and at risk of gentrification. Many fear rising rents could force the area’s current inhabitants out.

Despite the fears, the public-private partnership between the county and the nonprofit, West Side Community Land Trust, will ensure that homes in the neighborhood will stay affordable for years to come.

County leaders took $6 million from the American Rescue Plan and gave it to the land trust. The trust then used that money to buy 32 homes from a single landlord in the area.

“[We’re] continuing to try to find opportunities to do something...in the hopes that we will be able to stabilize these neighborhoods and keep them affordable for those families that have lived there for many years,” County Manager Dena Diorio said. “There’s a lot of things that we want to preserve and [we] are really looking for opportunities to do that.”

The homes are only about 10 minutes from Uptown, so they would likely get significant interest from buyers if they were put on the market.

Because of the partnership though, the trust can continue to keep rents affordable.

Some renovations are also in the plans for homes in the area, and eventually, people in the neighborhood could buy the house.

Related: Lease holders of Brookhill Village looks to County Commissioners for funding

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