Greenville County Council passes affordable housing incentive, but some don't like it

Greenville County Council passed a new affordable housing policy at its meeting Tuesday night, but not without pushback from some residents and even a couple of its councilmembers.

The policy allows the county to provide tax abatements to developers who include affordable housing units in their developments. It is meant to act as a guide for decision-making by officials.

Tina Belge, advocacy and community engagement manager for The Greenville Housing Fund, previously told The Greenville News the policy was a "game-changer" for the county.

But not everyone agrees.

Tikeeta Wallace, a community activist who is running a write-in campaign for the County Council District 23 seat, said the policy is "awful."

Wallace said that community members, not real-estate developers, should have been consulted during the policy's drafting process.

"It's just a windbag to me," she said before Tuesday's meeting.

Read this:Ask Angelia: What are Greenville's plans for affordable housing in 2022-2023?

Previous reporting:Two Greenville County Council members push to incentivize affordable-housing development

Fant acknowledged after Tuesday's meeting that some residents want more, but he said this policy has taken years to come to fruition and the work to increase access to better housing has only just begun.

"It's not perfect, but it's a start," Fant said. "Who would have thought five, six years ago that Greenville County would even discuss any kind of workforce housing? It was not even on the radar."

What does the new affordable housing policy in Greenville County do?

The new policy incentivizes developers to include affordable housing units for residents who earn between 40% and 80% of Greenville County's average median household income, which was $62,422 in 2020 according to the Census Bureau.

For a housing unit to be considered affordable under the policy, its cost must not exceed 30% of a person's annual income.

The policy creates an avenue for developers to submit a proposal to the county to receive a tax break based on the amount of affordable housing units they plan to include in their project, with County Council having to approve each proposal.

The policy does not include incentives for affordable housing for residents earning less than 40% or greater than 80% of the county's average median household income.

The exclusion of the county's poorest residents is at the crux of Wallace's frustrations.

Instead of using the county's average median income, which Wallace said is a baseline that will continue to rise year after year, she wished rent caps would have been considered.

"We should be pushing for more rent caps to preserve our communities," she said.

Community activist Jack Logan spoke about the policy during the council meeting's public-comment section, thanking the council and especially Fant and Chris Harrison for prioritizing affordable housing. But Logan said he hoped councilmembers would do more to address the needs of low-income residents.

Fant acknowledged those frustrations but said the policy was never meant to replace or compete with the work done by the Greenville Housing Authority, which provides affordable housing and workforce housing assistance for veterans and low to moderate-income families, according to its website.

"Our arena and our focus was very narrow," he said.

The policy passed by a vote of 9 to 3, with County Council Chair Willis Meadows and councilmembers Stan Tzouvelekas and Xanthene Norris voting against it.

Meadows has vocally opposed the policy since its inception and tried to squash the policy in committee but was unsuccessful. He's said he believes the open market should regulate housing prices.

− Tim Carlin covers county government, growth and development for The Greenville News. Follow him on Twitter @timcarlin_, and get in touch with him at TCarlin@gannett.com. You can support his work by subscribing to The Greenville News at greenvillenews.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville SC council adopts housing incentive, but some don't like it