Housing insecurity widens in the Charlotte region

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Rising housing costs is lowering the stock of affordable units in the Charlotte region, according to the State of Housing Instability and Homelessness Report. The study found that 77% of low-cost housing available in 2015 was gone by 2024.

Housing insecurity is growing across the Charlotte region. 

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services, which released the 2025 State of Housing Instability and Homelessness Report, found that 77% of low-cost housing available in 2015 was wiped out by 2024 as redevelopment and gentrification spread across the region. Also, the housing affordability gap continued to widen.

The study combined local, regional and national data on homelessness, housing stock and affordability. The research included the number of people found in shelters as well as those without permanent housing; substandard housing and cost-burdened housing, defined as paying at least 30% of household income on shelter.

Researchers found: 

• Low-cost rental housing is disappearing. The region’s focus on building high-end housing as well as rising construction and rental cost increases is speeding the loss of affordable units. There is a 32,601-unit gap in rental units affordable for extremely low-income households who are at or below 30% of the area median income. In 2023, 41% of Black households are homeowners compared to 66% of white households and 44% of Latinos.

• Cost-burdened renters are becoming the norm. With fewer affordable housing units and a widening rent-to-income gaps, more households struggle to remain in rental housing in Mecklenburg. In 2023, half of all renters (nearly 107,000 households) were cost-burdened, which is households earning less than $75,000, with 53,900 households severely cost burdened. By comparison, 74,243 households were cost burdened in 2013, with 33,666 households severely cost-burdened. 

• Homelessness impacts thousands of people in Mecklenburg. The number of people who stayed in emergency shelters, safe havens, or transitional housing increased 6% from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025. As of June 2025, there were 2,404 unhoused people in Mecklenburg County, a 14% reduction from the previous year, but the number of first-time homelessness in 2024 spiked by 11%.  

• The racial affordability gap is getting worse. The cost burden and housing insecurity is more likely to hit low-income households of color hardest. In Mecklenburg County, most renters who are cost burdened or can’t afford housing are Black and/or Latino. 

Black people make up 29% of the county’s population, but account for 74% of homeless people. The most recent Point-In-Time census found 384 unsheltered people on a single night in Mecklenburg.

The study compiled regional data for housing instability and homelessness as well as all types of permanent, affordable housing. The report covers the county’s housing inventory, impact of cost-burdened housing, evictions, and the Point-in-Time count of homeless people, rental gaps and the Housing Trust Fund. New to the study is information on housing vouchers, government financial investments, critical home repair, housing interventions, and emerging practices. 

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