The coming half-decade will be a crucial period for ensuring low- to moderate-income residents are not left behind as the county grows.
Every five years, the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority puts together what’s known as its “consolidated plan,” which looks at the county’s affordable-housing needs in the coming half-decade.
The plan describes the housing needs of the low- and moderate-income residents across five participating county municipalities (the city of Greenville being excluded), while outlining strategies to meet those needs.
This latest comprehensive plan, for which the GCRA held a kickoff meeting on Jan. 30, comes as “the drumbeat for affordable housing has grown louder and louder,” according to Joe Smith, operations director with GCRA.
With access to affordable housing taking center stage in the ongoing debate over the County Square redevelopment, Smith said the coming half-decade will be a crucial period for ensuring low- to moderate-income residents are not left behind as the county grows.
Established in 1974, the GCRA works to secure resources and educate stakeholders to meet the needs of Greenville County citizens through affordable housing. That means everything from building subsidized homes, to repairing homes, to improving surrounding infrastructure, to demolishing unsafe properties, to improving facades and more.
The last half decade saw the GCRA construct 55 new housing units and 73 rental units, financially assist 120 households in buying their first homes, rehab 280 housing units, improve 22 storefronts and rapidly rehouse 350 homeless individuals.
The county will hold public hearings from now until March in Simpsonville, Fountain Inn, Traveler’s Rest, Greer and Mauldin.
Source: Greenvillejournal
