Neighborhoods like Cherry in the fast-growing city of Charlotte are faced with intense pressures in the real estate market. The city is scrambling to craft a plan that can leverage the city's assets to the benefit of the whole city.
Sherrell Dorsey reports on the changes coming to the neighborhood of Charlotte as an example of larger trends and policy consequences at work in the city:
With its proximity to Uptown (the colloquial reference to the city’s downtown area) and good access to public transportation, post-2008 recession Cherry has been an easy target for developers, who are profiting from an abundance of vacant lots and low-cost homes.
According to Sherrell, the market trends replacing "1920s bungalows priced at $200,000" with "$600,000 California-style single-family homes" have been reflected in the city's demographics as well:
UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute reported demographics last year that put Cherry’s population at 57.3 percent white and 37.4 percent black. Based on 1990 census data, the black population in Cherry about 25 years ago was 66 percent black. By 2000, that number had dropped to 55 percent.
The article focuses on the example of Cherry as an example of current residents having little recourse to stem the tide of gentrification. The city lacks any mechanisms for preserving or creating affordable housing units, such as inclusionary zoning, and the city is in the very early stages of creating an affordable housing plan.
FULL STORY: Charlotte’s Oldest Black Neighborhood Grapples With Gentrification
Detroit Tax Abatement Will Keep Senior Renters in Upscale Building
The city worked with the owners of an apartment building to maintain lower rents so longtime residents would not be displaced after renovations.
Louisville Launches ‘Anti-Displacement Tool’
After a years-long, tenant-led effort, Louisville will use a new tool to analyze whether a proposed housing development can meet a neighborhood’s housing needs and income levels. If it doesn’t, the city won’t subsidize it.
Beltline Surpasses Annual Affordable Housing Goal
The Atlanta Beltline agency is actively working to prevent the displacement of longtime residents along the trail system, where property values are rising rapidly.
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
EPA Terminates $116 Million in Grants for Reducing Emissions from Construction Materials
C-MORE grants were earmarked for industry trade groups and universities.
BART Closes $35 Million Deficit
Cost control and revenue generation measures prevented service cuts.
The New Parisian Hearse is a Bicycle
Sleek, silent, and sustainable, a green trip to the graveyard has hit the streets of the French capital.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Moreno Valley
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
City of Piedmont, CA
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland