#SpotlightOnCLT Affordable Housing
Each month, SHARE Charlotte provides a series of highlights on local nonprofits who are doing great work for a cause that may be close to your heart. We call this series #SpotlightOnCLT and we hope it helps you get involved in ways that matter most to you - you can attend events, donate, or volunteer!
For October, SHARE Charlotte is highlighting nonprofit partners who are working to provide our neighbors with safe, stable, and affordable housing. We are honored to present this topic to you with the help of our friends at Dreamkey Partners who you’ll get to learn more about throughout the month.
We’re very thankful to the nonprofits below who are leading the charge to provide affordable housing throughout our region. Be sure to read and share this guide with anyone you know who is seeking options for affordable housing and those who care deeply about this issue.
Note: By clicking the buttons for each organization, you can access contact information, volunteer interest forms, social media contacts, and upcoming events.
DreamKey Partners
"Over the past 35 years, our passionate team of experts has worked to bring affordable housing to the Charlotte region, as well as South Carolina and Georgia. We’ve made a difference in expanding the availability of affordable homes through significant real estate development, homeownership programs and community engagement. We’ve built and rehabilitated multi- and single-family homes, delivered homeownership education, lending and community engagement programs, provided emergency assistance, and revitalized neighborhoods."
Another Chance: House of Refuge, Inc.
“Our organization is deeply committed to addressing housing insecurity by providing comprehensive support to those in need. We operate a housing assistance program that offers safe shelter for Men, Women and Children, including those involved in the justice system or facing housing insecurity. Beyond immediate shelter, we offer rental assistance to deserving families, helping them secure and maintain stable housing.
Our commitment extends beyond temporary solutions, as we work to create lasting change by addressing the root causes of homelessness and ensuring that everyone in our community has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing."
Building Hope Building Commitment INC
“Building Hope Building Commitment (BHBC) supports affordable housing by partnering with property managers and faith-based organizations to provide housing options that prioritize tenant retention and self-sufficiency. BHBC ensures open communication, advocates for tenants, and helps them maintain stable housing through individualized service plans and supportive services.
Additionally, BHBC collaborates with property managers to offer affordable housing, with a focus on preventing eviction and enhancing housing retention.”
Canopy Housing Foundation
“As the charitable arm of the Canopy Realtor® Association, the Canopy Housing Foundation works to address unmet housing needs and advocates for fair and affordable housing standards and practices. Through the Foundation’s leadership, we are aligning Realtors® with individuals and businesses to build a stronger community and greater quality of life.
Since 2009, community grants totalling $524,599 have been awarded to address unmet housing needs in Mecklenburg, Iredell and Haywood counties.”
Carolinas Care Partnership
“North Carolina is in a full blown housing crisis and LGBTQ+ communities and folx living with, or at risk of, HIV are hit the hardest. At CCP we are committed to doing something about it. One of the ways that CCP delivers housing services to our communities is by distributing housing vouchers for folx living with HIV, via the HUD Funded, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA).”
Charlotte Family Housing
"We empower working families experiencing homelessness through shelter, housing, supportive services, and advocacy. Families in our shelter-to-housing program receive two years of wrap-around support to address their unique housing barriers, find and maintain affordable housing in our community, regain and increase their economic stability, and heal from the trauma of homelessness."
"Community Link enables individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent and affordable housing. Our organization has been serving Charlotte/Mecklenburg since 1929.
We offer Asset Building and Travelers Aid services. Asset Building includes free Foreclosure Prevention counseling, free tax preparation for low-to-moderate income households, and a homeownership education and counseling program for first-time homeowners. We offer Foreclosure Prevention services in 21 counties across North Carolina."
“FARM127 provides or assists in acquiring safe, affordable housing for young adults aging out of foster care with rent stipends as a part of our FARMhouse program. Each young adult meets regularly with an Independent Living Mentor who assesses and advocates for needed wrap-around services with expert providers in our community.”
Freedom Communities
“The Freedom-Wilkinson Corridor has been adversely affected by the consequences of redlining and urban renewal, leading to concentrated poverty and limiting opportunities for economic-advancement among its residents.
Our affordable housing work includes:
Working with people to help them to prepare for and navigate the process of attaining stable housing that they can afford
Preventing the displacement and eviction of families during crisis through our emergency fund
Hosting workshops to educate people on the homebuying process and how to be successful renters
Partnering with for-profit developers to develop new affordable rental and for-sale housing
Preserving land for the development of affordable housing through our rotating capital fund
To date, our housing partnerships have yielded 581 affordable rental, for-sale, and transitional housing units with 202 more in the pipeline - (132 to open in September!). Our unique partnership with Crosland Southeast enables co-ownership of hundreds of new affordable rental units generating cash flow to help sustain our operations. We also formed a joint venture with Habitat for Humanity to purchase 28 units of naturally occurring affordable housing we are moving from affordable rentals to affordable homeownership and are partnering with True Homes to develop 52 for-sale affordable townhomes (prioritizing teachers and hometown heroes) on land purchased through our rotating capital fund, which will be recycled, perpetuating affordable housing development."
Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region
“Since 1983, Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region has been the premier area provider of affordable homeownership and home repair solutions for families earning 80% or less of Area Median Income. Our organization serves Mecklenburg, Iredell and soon Gaston Counties. Through our New Homeownership program, we build quality homes from the ground up or renovate existing homes then priced at fair market value and sold to income-qualified homebuyers with mortgages that are "right-sized" through subsidies to be affordable. Our Critical Home Repair program provides qualified families with significant repairs, improving substandard housing conditions for those with limited financial resources. Our financial education program provides assessments, coaching and partner referrals along your journey to becoming mortgage ready.”
Home Again Foundation, Inc.
“Home Again Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing sustainable, affordable housing with supportive services for the homeless and those who are at risk of becoming homeless.
We believe everyone deserves a safe place to call home, the dignity of a new beginning, and the hope for a brighter tomorrow! We currently have one community of cottages, Small Beginnings, and are working in building our next community!”
"We support affordable housing by preventing homelessness and fighting gentrification of neighborhoods in Greater Charlotte. By providing critical repairs, we help low-income homeowners stay in their communities. Keeping neighbors in need in their homes not only builds generational wealth, but it also maintains the area's affordable housing stock. If they're forced to move, homes are often sold to investors who flip the home outside of an affordable range."
Supportive Housing Communities
“At Supportive Housing Communities we not only get people housed, with affordable housing, but strive for them to be able to keep their home with our wrap-around support and case management. Our goals include assisting residents in obtaining/remaining in permanent housing, encouraging residents to increase skills and/or find employment, fostering self-sufficiency and improving self-image, and supporting recovery and wellness.
SHC serves formerly homeless people with at least one disability. SHC residents must earn (through employment or earned benefits) less than 30% of area median income and contribute 30% of their income, if any, toward rent. All residents are homeless at the time of entry, with 82% being chronically homeless last fiscal year."
The Park Community Development Corporation
“We work to bridge the gap, advance equity, and ensure stable, safe, and dignified housing for residents. Our participation in creating affordable housing opportunities will foster an inclusive community where residents of diverse socio-economic backgrounds not only live, but thrive.”