An Update From Your Housing Executive Fellow

Time has been swiftly rolling since joining the Chamber team in early March. It is important to me that I learn the stories and narratives around the region’s housing crisis, so I have spent much of my first month listening to the growing concerns of our members. In my first week, I also applied for and gained an appointment to be on the Charleston County Housing Steering Committee. I hope that I can offer creative ideas and solutions to help build sustainable change for attainable housing.

Regional Housing Coalition – Vision Lab Part III

A group of 15 leaders joined us for our third vision lab, which included an in-depth discussion about the structure of the newly-launched Regional Housing Coalition. Attendees offered their perspectives around best practices and suggested a reverse engineering approach to identify the needs and goals of the Coalition.

Three goals were identified for the Coalition:

• Education  
• Advocacy  
• Action  

The group will continue to work towards guiding principles for the Coalition and plans to host their first meeting in the fall.

Small Efficiency Units (Micro-Units)

On March 22, 2022, Charleston City Council approved the first reading of a land-use amendment that would allow more small efficiency units to be built on the Peninsula. Small efficiency units are 375 square-feet apartments or smaller that would allow for more workforce housing and allow employees to live closer to their jobs in the City of Charleston.

With an estimated 76,000 households in our region spending more than 30% of their income on housing, micro-units will serve as a viable solution to increase supply while decreasing cost and aligns with the Chamber’s Regional Policy Committee’s guiding principles.

We are thankful to the City of Charleston for considering this ordinance to increase housing supply.  

I look forward to continue keeping you updated on all things housing and can assure you that our Chamber team is working hard to drive solutions for our region’s housing crisis. Have a great weekend!