By: Bill Stanfield, CEO of Metanoia

The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce reached out to ask me to send along a few paragraphs answering the question, “Who is at risk of housing insecurity?” 

The answer is easy.  “All of us.” 

And I really do mean “ALL of us.” At the first level, there are residents who cannot afford housing. Admittedly these citizens of our region are most at risk for housing insecurity, and with the median household income in our region being $72,000 per year and the median home sales price being $752,500, there are A LOT of people in this category.

I have the privilege of serving as the CEO of Metanoia, a non-profit developer of housing that families earning just below the median household income can afford. Providing a working family with safe, attainable housing at a cost that is within their budget increases their ability to contribute to our local economy and communities.

But let’s say you are a person earning well above that median income, for whom a $752,500 home is not out of reach. What “risk” is there to housing insecurity for you?  Well, presuming you enjoy eating in our world class restaurants, don’t like sitting in lots of traffic and want to have first responders be able to get to you in the midst of the next hurricane, housing insecurity is a risk to you as well.

Restaurants in Charleston are struggling to hire employees that can afford to live here.  Traffic congestion is on the rise because people cannot afford to live close to where they work and teachers, fire fighters and police officers cannot afford to stay close to the jurisdictions that they serve.

This is just a partial list of how ALL of us are at risk of housing insecurity. Therefore, ALL of us must be involved in its solution.

We are grateful at Metanoia for the leadership that the Charleston Metro Chamber has shown in making sure that the risk to all of us related to housing insecurity is going down in the future and not upward!

About Bill:
Rev. Bill Stanfield is a founder and the current CEO of Metanoia, a nonprofit organization in North Charleston, SC. Metanoia works to amplify opportunities for a thriving community with families in Chicora and surrounding historically Black neighborhoods by honing the unique assets that exist within those communities. A critical component of this effort is Metanoia’s affordable housing efforts, which include new construction for affordable homeownership and rental housing, as well as repairs for homeowners on a low fixed income who cannot afford to repair their homes.