Housing authority demolished low-income senior apartments in 2017. No new housing has been built

Charlotte Journalism Collaborative

12 months ago

More than six years after the Strawn Cottages affordable housing site was demolished, nothing has been built on the site. | Photo by Steve Harrison/WFAE

by Steve Harrison, WFAE |

Almost a decade ago, the publicly funded Charlotte Housing Authority put an ambitious plan into action: Redevelop 16 acres of prime real estate in Dilworth and generate millions of new dollars for affordable housing in other parts of the city.

The mostly Black seniors who lived at the site were relocated in 2017. Their 122 one-story apartments, known as the Strawn Cottages, were demolished soon after.

The high-rise Strawn Tower — which was renovated — is still there, just off South Boulevard in Dilworth.

But almost seven years after the cottages were torn down, nothing has been built. Most of the site is still an empty field crisscrossed by muddy tracks. There are a few trees and two lonely electrical meters on poles.

Read more at WFAE