10 | GREENVILLE JOURNAL | 07.06.2018 GREENVILLEJOURNAL.COM
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quality,” he said. “Mixed-income housing can and does work. [The city] can mandate that. They own the land.”
Seeking proposals A specific number of affordable housing units for the city land has not yet been identified. A market study conducted as part of the park planning recommended between 2,000 and 2,200 residential units in the larger study area, Stroud said. Five hundred of those would be affordable, she said. Several affordable housing projects in the Southernside community are currently either in the planning or exploratory stages, Stroud said. The city expects to issue a request for proposals for the land it owns near the park by early next year. White said they’d be looking for new ideas and creative designs for affordable housing before deciding to whom it will sell or donate the land. New ideas could include ways to get more density on the land closest to the park, he said. Oglesby said nonprofit affordable housing developers should be part of the conversation because they have been making the numbers work for new affordable units when for-profit developers can’t. “A lot of people are talking about affordable housing, but they’re not talking to us about how we can solve the problem,” Oglesby said. Nonprofit affordable housing developers pay the same price for bricks as forprofit developers do, he said. The difference in nonprofits being able to make the numbers work is that they get some money that doesn’t need to be paid back, or is paid back at lower interest rates. “The hospitality industry should be investing in affordable housing themselves,” he said. “They can get a return on their money, but they have to be patient. They may not get a return on their money for 15 years because I’ve got to pay back the note and then I can pay them back. But if they donate $10,000, they never see that money again and it’s one house. A lot of these ideas are not new. They’re just new to South Carolina.” White said there’s a possibility the city may sell some of its land on Mayberry Street and use the money to facilitate affordable-housing construction on other land it owns near the park. The mayor said he expects the city to focus on increasing affordable housing for seniors so people in the neighborhood can stay there. MKSK, a consulting firm the city hired to do the master plan for the park and the surrounding Reedy River corridor, has said the city can encourage more affordable housing
DRIVEWAY TO DRIVEWAY 25
Acres of land the city owns within two blocks of Unity Park
123
Affordable housing units nonprofit affordable housing developer Homes for Hope has in the pipeline, at least one-third of which are in Greenville
191
Number of owner-occupied affordable housing units the city’s nonprofit partners have built in the Southernside, West Greenville, West End, and Viola Street communities in the past two decades
508
Number of affordable rental units built within 1 mile of Unity Park’s boundaries by the city’s nonprofit partners in the last 20 years
2,500+
Shortage of affordable housing units in the city limits, according to a 2016 study Source: City of Greenville, Homes for Hope
through policies and regulations such as a community character code, inclusionary zoning, and waived fees. Oglesby said the city must be as intentional about the affordable housing aspect of the park as it was with the park’s components. “We can’t blow this opportunity,” Oglesby said.