City unveils 10‑year affordable housing fund plan to convert city‑owned lots into homes

Neighborhood Business Services Director Tianna Behrman presented a proposed 10‑year local investment framework to expand affordable housing production in Greenville, with an emphasis on West Greenville and city‑owned vacant lots.

Behrman said rising construction and rental costs have outpaced wage growth and created housing instability; staff recommended a modest, phased city appropriation that ramps from $200,000 in year one to $1,000,000 by year five and remains flat through year ten. Under staff modeling, an $8 million city contribution over 10 years could be leveraged to $23 million in total investment and produce roughly 50 ownership units with an average modeled subsidy of about $160,000 per unit. Staff also projected about $14 million in program income over the period that could be recycled to additional acquisition, gap financing or rehab.

The plan would target nearly 283 vacant lots identified in West Greenville, 104 of which are city‑owned. Staff described a selection process to unbundle lots and engage multiple local, small and minority builders; supportive services, down‑payment assistance and realtor training were included as complementary initiatives. The city intends to pursue mixed‑income approaches to avoid concentrated poverty and to maintain long‑term neighborhood stability.

Council reaction was positive: members said the phased approach creates measurable benchmarks and can be adjusted as sites and partnerships are developed. Council and staff emphasized the need to involve multiple local developers and to continue community engagement as sites are assessed. No formal vote was taken; staff will return with further parts of the strategy in upcoming presentations.