THE PORCHLIGHT

On November 16th & 18th Impact Greenville, along with City staff, consultants from Czb and members of the GVL 2040 Steering Committee, put on workshops to help kickoff public engagement efforts surrounding the adoption of the plan.

Both events featured a presentation of the draft plan followed by a panel discussion and Q&A from event attendees. whose three top priority elements are open space and the environment, affordable housing opportunities, and transportation and mobility

With 114 participants there were lively discussions about quality of life, affordable housing, green space, and economic development. We also heard from the neighborhood and business persepective and discussed economic mobility, the limited land left in the city limits, as well the interconnectedness of housing, green space, and transportation and how each is interdependent on the other for responsible growth to occur.

The draft plan, executive summaries, and plan highlights are available here for review. You can also watch both events at the below links.

Watch the November 16th workshop with a focus on Neighborhoods here.

Watch the November 16th workshop with a focus on Economic Development here.

FROM HOTEL/MOTELS to AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Greenville City Council recently passed a zoning exception allowing for affordable housing to be developed in former hotel/motels. GHF and our Greenville Affordable Housing Coalition is in full support of this text amendment and helped advocate for it alongside our partners from UHC and GHA. We believe it will bring more opportunities for affordable housing in the city. Not only will it allow for more affordable housing but incentivize it. It also allows for the creative re-use of hotels, an industry that has been greatly impacted by COVID-19, causing vacancies and sales of hotels in the city and leaving many hospitality workers with lower or no income. These workers often are cost burdened to begin with, the average pay of maids and housekeeping cleaners in the city being $9.59. While we cannot control the vacancy or closures of hotels due to COVID-19 we can try and turn those vacancies into a solution and positive resource to our city.

Last, this amendment incentivizes affordable housing in C-2 and C-3 not only where residential use is allowed, but density encouraged as it’s near businesses and services and major arterial roads respectively, critical to many of our citizens who are lower income, and without transportation. We commend this text amendment and echo the positive comments we have heard from multifamily affordable housing developers regarding this change. We see this directly resulting in more private investment towards affordable housing in the city and are already hearing rumblings from interested affordable housing developers. We are so grateful to staff and council for this welcomed change.

You can learn more about this ordinance and see our recent coverage in the news here.

COALITION MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

NHE, Inc. is a diverse real estate management company based in Greenville, SC. Under the leadership of CEO Taylor Davis, NHE has grown to provide management services to over 16,000 housing units across the Southeast. The firm provides professional association management, conventional and affordable apartment management, and service coordination to communities in over fifteen states. They have received numerous awards and designations for the quality of their work.

Not only is NHE committed to work in the commercial housing market, but they are also dedicated to developing affordable housing properties. The company is dedicated to closing the affordable housing gap and ensuring that high-quality housing is available to individuals and families of all incomes and have helped develop affordable communities across South Carolina and into North Carolina. Currently, NHE manages over 90 affordable properties. To CEO Taylor Davis, “affordable housing is something that every community should strive to provide to its citizens, and seeing a development be built is more than just a paycheck, it’s helping a community grow.” In Greenville, NHE has been a vital force in working to close the affordable housing gap, frequently partnering with area organizations to help local residents gain access to high-quality housing. Davis enjoys “connecting the dots and drawing on lots of different relationships in order to put together a development with the strongest odds of success.” The firm is a unique and important voice in developing future affordable housing strategy.

GHF IN THE NEWS

In case you missed it, there was a great feature by The Greenville Journal about our work at GHF, our City & Countywide Affordable Housing Strategic Plan with GCRA, and how we collectively reach our 10 year goal for over 13,000 homes produced and preserved for the many residents in need of affordable housing.

Follow us on Social Media

Become a Partner

view this email in your browser

Copyright © 2020 Greenville Housing Fund, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
100 West Antrim Dr.
Greenville, SC 29607

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Greenville Housing Fund · 100 W Antrim Dr · Greenville, SC 29607-2506 · USA