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Housing Authority's Woodyard outlines strategy
Jan. 18, 2011
Charlotte Housing Authority CEO Charles Woodard on Tuesday offered the Forum a number of updates on housing policy.
Locating affordable housing
The Authority commissioned a UNCC Urban Institute market study that was published in September 2010. Looking at the components of "quality of life," the study is the basis for maps that Woodyard presented to the Forum that indicated where quality of life was highest, where Section 8 and Housing Authority housing sites are located, and what it will take to put more affordable housing in areas of the county where quality of life is good.
In the video below, the map is held by Authority Chairman Joel Ford.
The September 2010 referenced in the video above may be downloaded in a PDF file from the Authority website. It is also archived on this site here.
Misperceptions about Section 8 voucher holders
Woodyard said he is often lambasted for how Section 8 voucher holders don't keep up their rented homes. It's an argument, as he reminded Tuesday's Forum participants, that he has tried to counter even in earlier Forum presentations. "It falls on deaf ears," he said, "and I understand why." He did not elaborate.
RISE: Expanding Section 8 to higher-income neighborhoods
Woodyard gave a brief outline of a possible pilot program being explored by federal and local housing officials that would make it possible for Section 8 voucher holders to rent in high-wealth neighborhoods.
He said he had not take the proposal yet to the Housing Authority Commissioners, and that if the commissioners approved he would brief the Charlotte City Council.
The federal cap on rent subsidies has long meant that Section 8 voucher holders tend to be concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods like east Charlotte. A pilot program called RISE might change that.
In the video below, Woodyard explains how RISE might work.