On Tuesday, WFAE 90.7, led by host Mary Curtis, brought together several contributors in Charlotte’s struggle to improve upward mobility. The live conversation at Project 658 was part of a series on race and equity.
Panelists including Mayor Vi Lyles, Ely Portillo, Sherri Chisholm, Charis Blackmon and Daniel Valdez, used a 2014 Harvard study as the driving focus to discuss solutions for affordable living and upward mobility in Charlotte. In the often referenced Chetty Study, its author, Harvard economist Raj Chetty, examined upward mobility across the country. Charlotte came in dead last out of the top 50 cities, meaning a child born into poverty here has little chance of moving out of it.
One thing was made abundantly clear: Charlotte’s upward mobility problems were not new, and that remains true today. “The Chetty report for some folks in our community was a wake-up call,” said Chisholm. “For others it was ‘Finally people are paying attention.’”
Several solutions were proposed, from Lyles’ fund allocations towards education and political efforts centered around the $13.5 billion MOVE Charlotte transportation bill, to Blackmon’s West Side Community Land Trust directly engaging and co-authoring new measures to improve the situation with targeted communities in Charlotte.
Another focus West Side takes is helping people buy homes up front. This addresses the challenges many homebuyers face when competing against single family rental investment firms.
Valdez, who represents the Charlotte branch of Welcoming America, spends a lot of time helping citizens, particularly those who are non-white, move into Charlotte. He coordinates with other Welcoming America branches and compares the situation they are moving out of to the one they’re coming into in Charlotte.
Panelists also touched on solutions from other cities with rapid population growth. According to the most recent metro-to-metro migration data from the United States Census Bureau, Charlotte ranks as No. 9 on the list of fastest growing populations in the country. Lyles says they often look at cities that are also growing at a similar pace. Portillo pointed out examples in Austin, Texas, where the city allocated $300 million towards anti-displacement as part of a voter-approved Project Connect.
Policy and fund enactment may not be so easy in Charlotte, however. North Carolina’s Dillon’s Rule restricts the legislative freedom of Charlotte’s city council, or even that of Mecklenburg County.
Transportation was also a key point of the evening. Charlotte is very auto-dependent, but nearly a third of its lowest quintile of earners don’t own a personal automobile. The fix is not as easy as just adding more trains or other public transit options. That can lead to increased gentrification and displacement. Blackmon mentioned stories of residents riding the bus home and nearly missing their stops because they could no longer recognize their own neighborhoods.
A running theme of the panel was how solutions are not easy to come to. They require careful research and consulting, as well as consideration of several complicating factors.
Unity is also important. Chisholm mentioned how Charlotte is excellent at addressing city needs in “silos,” but little mass effort between several different branches ever arises. This will have to change, and not just for the sake of the city’s lowest earners.
“Charlotte is quickly becoming expensive for all of us,” said Chisholm.
“We’re great at short term success, [but] when the problems that we’re talking about require a long term funding scenario, it requires commitment to the people in this community and it requires we engage the people deeply in this discussion,” said Lyles. “I think we’re up for it.”
Watch the full panel discussion and audience Q&A here.
This story is part of I Can’t Afford to Live Here, a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte.
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.
