It’s remarkable but not at all surprising that my time reporting on affordable housing and homelessness began and ended with a mass displacement of vulnerable Charlotteans. Even as Charlotte invests millions to build and preserve affordable housing, and Mecklenburg County overhauls its strategy to address homelessness, these displacements continue largely unfettered. A growing tallyMy introduction to mass displacement was at Lake Arbor, the notoriously hazardous apartments off Tuckaseegee Road where tenants had raised alarms for years about unsafe wiring, water damage and pest infestations. You can’t do it overnight.”Organizations like United Way of Central Carolinas stepped up to raise money and help with relocation, but many residents still lacked permanent affordable housing for months after. In every community I visit, the same question arises: how can the next mass displacement be prevented?

Source: The Guardian June 06, 2022 10:54 UTC