CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Residents in the Charleston area are going to soon be able to take advantage of up to 400 affordable apartments that are being built.
The Post and Courier reports that the city is in the process of signing agreements, and taking necessary steps to make the land available for building. The housing will be built in and around the area where the old Cooper River bridges used to be.
“We recognize the need for affordable housing is across the board, and are trying to address that,” Geona Johnson, Charleston’s housing director told the newspaper.
Under the plans, the city is working with private developers, nonprofit groups and the Charleston Housing Authority to get the apartments built.
Some apartments are intended for seniors while other locations will be designed for homeless people trying to get off the streets.
The newspaper reported that one of the biggest challenges has been getting the land. Some of the property was acquired by the city after the Grace and Pearman bridges were destroyed and the replacement bridge was built. The city’s voters in 2017 also approved a $20 million fund to create affordable housing, and the city has benefitted from the repayment of a 1984 loan.
Three of the new apartment complexes will be in an area where the bridge ramps used to be. One of the apartment complexes has already been built.
“That whole area will be turned into housing, because that’s what was there before the bridges,” Councilman Robert Mitchell told the newspaper.
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