Charleston County touts gains under ‘Housing Our Future’ plan as ARPA deadline nears

Charleston County officials on Feb. 6 told the Finance Committee that the county’s Housing Our Future plan is producing new units and repairs across the county, but council members pressed staff on whether recently built infill homes are affordable for longtime neighborhood residents.

Eric Davis, Director of Housing and Land Management, updated the committee on the county’s land-acquisition program and implementation work. He reminded members “everything we're working towards is outlined in the Housing Our Future plan,” and said the county has allocated $2,500,000 of ARPA dollars to the land-acquisition program and that $765,000 remains to be awarded. Davis said staff will finish reviewing applications already submitted and develop a concrete plan to expand those ARPA funds well in advance of the Dec. 31 deadline.

Anthony Weston, senior community development loan officer for the South Carolina Community Loan Fund — the county’s partner and program administrator for the Housing Our Future Trust Fund — told the committee his organization has four awarded projects connected to the Trust Fund. “Total amount is $12,600,000 and amount awarded is $6,560,000,” Weston said, adding that the program’s projects total about 209 units and that about 88% of the Trust Fund–supported units are being allocated toward affordable and workforce households across Charleston County (West Ashley, North Charleston and Charleston). “We are helping real people, real jobs, and real community and real stability,” he said.

Louella Smalls, director of Community Development and Revitalization, summarized the department’s 2025 results and funding mix. She said county programs leveraging HUD, ARPA, the South Carolina Housing Trust Fund and the MacArthur Fund supported construction of 13 single-family homes sold for homeownership, 76 multifamily rental units (72 of those units serving households at or below 30% AMI), 85 home repairs to improve safety and habitability, and 53 homes connected to drinking water and sewer service.

Council members welcomed the progress but raised affordability questions tied to infill projects. One member said homes on Comstock and Delaware were selling for “$460,000 to $480,000,” a price he called unaffordable for Union Heights residents; Mr. Grant responded that properties targeted specific AMIs and said he had a record of a sale at about $190,000 and would verify other sales. The differing figures were left unresolved at the meeting; staff committed to follow up with verified sale and program details.

Staff also described programs to preserve affordability and expand homeownership, including an internal GAP program with the South Carolina Community Loan Fund, a universal tax-exemption (UTEP) incentive under review, and rehabilitation of county-acquired housing authority units (the Charleston Homes program). Davis said the county has doubled its internal housing-development staff and is preparing a first UTEP recommendation for review by the Finance Committee.

Next steps: staff will finish application reviews, verify price and AMI targeting data for the cited Comstock/Delaware projects and return with concrete recommendations and documentation in upcoming Finance Committee mailings.