By Lexi Wilson, WCNC-TV
The Charlotte 2040 Comprehensive Plan would increase diversity and inclusion in every Charlotte neighborhood by making it easier to build different types of homes.
As Charlotte continues to grow, the city is facing a housing shortage and many are searching for solutions. City leaders are now considering new rules that would allow builders to add multi-family housing on property zoned for single-family homes.
The plan has created a divide in the community.
“Charlotte’s adding around 44 people a day,” Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning chairperson Sam Spencer said.
As the population is ramping up, Spencer says it’s time to get innovative. To handle the rapid growth, fit more people in smaller spaces designed with efficiency in mind.
“We’re creating communities that are more walkable, where somebody can afford,” Spencer said.
About 84% of residential land in Charlotte is zoned for single-family houses. The Charlotte 2040 Comprehensive Plan would increase diversity and inclusion in every Charlotte neighborhood by making it easier to build different types of homes.
It would alter decades of old zoning rules, creating a mixed bag.
“If you have a diversity of housing in a neighborhood that means you have a diversity of people,” Spencer said.
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.
