Mecklenburg County investment will preserve 32 homes as affordable housing

CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County is partnering with the West Side Community Land Trust to buy 32 homes from a landlord in the Hoskins neighborhood of west Charlotte to preserve the homes as affordable housing.

Instead of a landlord selling the homes to a corporation, the county is using Covid funds to purchase the houses and ensure residents can stay in the community.

The neighborhood celebrated with a block party outside Hoskins Avenue Baptist Church Tuesday afternoon.

“I am going to live happier,” Beverly Mackins, one of the residents of the homes that were purchased, said.

The county purchase will protect the 32 homes and the families who live in them from gentrification and having to find a new living space in an affordable housing crisis.

“It would have been hard to move because it is hard to get out here these days to get a home,” Mackins said.

County Commissioner Vilma Leake says this action speaks volumes considering affordable housing isn’t a typical county function.

“We ought to be thanked repeatedly for stepping over bounds and making sure we think of the people that need it the most,” Commissioner Leake, who represents the area, said.

She says the county’s work is just now getting started and more needs to be done to make sure Hoskins is a thriving neighborhood

“There’s more to living in a home than washing dishes and going to church,” she said. “The children and economics have to be center of attraction in this community.”

About the West Side Community Land Trust:

West Side Community Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, created by neighbors, to organize and empower the West Charlotte community (zip codes: 28208, 28214, 28216, 28217). The land trust aims to preserve and develop neighborhoods, to the benefit of low-income residents, as well as the neighborhoods in the face of rapid reinvestment and subsequent displacement of long-time residents. The membership organization is governed by an elected board with majority control given to the neighbors of the West Charlotte community. The mission of West Side CLT is to create permanently affordable housing with community-centered development in West Charlotte and beyond.

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