Among the tens of millions of federal pandemic relief dollars that flowed into the Charlotte area, $2 million awarded last spring targeted one of its most dire needs: safe, affordable housing.
It funded 178 emergency vouchers to house some of the community’s most vulnerable residents — those who are homeless or at risk of it, including veterans, people who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault or other trauma.
But nearly a year later, a tiny fraction of those vouchers are in use.
Federal data show only three housing units in Charlotte are currently leased using one of those vouchers, just under 2% of the local allocation.
That figure puts Charlotte near the bottom of the list of major metros that have used the vouchers to get people housed. Cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Washington, D.C. all have much higher rates. Statewide, housing organizations have used about 11% of the vouchers they were given.
The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems.
