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Housing trust awards $300,000 for affordable housing
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
The Lowcountry Housing Trust has awarded more than $300,000 to seven agencies planning to build 116 units of affordable housing throughout Charleston County.
The Charleston Area Community Development Corp., Charleston Habitat for Humanity, Humanities Foundation, Metanoia, Pastors Inc., Sea Island Habitat and United Methodist Relief Center were the recipients of the funds.
The funding awards were announced during an Aug. 30 ceremony in North Charleston’s Chicora-Cherokee community, where Metanoia will build five single-family houses.
This was the two-year-old Lowcountry Housing Trust’s second allotment of affordable-housing funds. The trust issued its first allotment last year, awarding $1 million to 10 Lowcountry affordable housing agencies for the building of some 250 homes throughout the tri-county area.
The Lowcountry Housing Trust is a nonprofit corporation providing capital to assist nonprofit organizations, government entities and private developers in constructing or rehabilitating affordable housing.
“As existing federal and state funding sources continue to decline, local communities must find creative ways to raise funds to finance area housing needs,” said Tammie Hoy, the Lowcountry Housing Trust’s executive director.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as costing no more than 30% of a household’s income.
Between 1990 and 2004, the median sales price for Charleston-area housing rose 125%. Because Charleston area wages have not kept up with the region’s rising home prices, an increasing number of families are having difficulty finding housing they can afford. More than 45% of Lowcountry households earn less than $44,700 a year, which is 80% of the area’s median income, according to the trust.
It is those families the trust aims to help through its funding allotments to affordable housing developments.
In July, the average sales price for a tri-county home was $301,842, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.
Cost cutter
The loans were awarded through the trust’s Gap Financing Loan Fund, which provides loans of up to $30,000 per housing unit and helps developers cover their new construction or building rehabilitation costs.
Reducing these costs enables developers to build affordable housing, which is the trust’s goal, said Michelle Mapp, the trust’s program coordinator.
The Lowcountry Housing Trust received the funds through grants and donations from the city of Charleston’s Department of Housing and Community Development, the S.C. Housing Finance and Development Authority, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local banks, builders and private donors also contributed to the funding.
“We, as a community, have to make sure everyone has a chance at achieving the American dream,” said North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey.
Summey praised Metanoia’s forthcoming homes for the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood.
“When this project is finished, it will be a star in this neighborhood, and stars draw attention,” he said, adding that such attention will lead to more affordable housing in that community.
“We can’t make Chicora-Cherokee a Coosaw Creek,” Summey said, referring to the affluent North Charleston community. “But we can make Chicora-Cherokee the best community it can possibly be.”
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.
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