Charleston mayoral candidates discuss affordable housing, homelessness during forum

by: Sophie Brams

Posted: Oct 4, 2023 / 05:30 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Sitting in front a small, private crowd Wednesday morning, the six candidates running for Charleston mayor answered questions about one of the city’s most critical problems: the affordable housing and homelessness crisis.

During the forum, hosted by non-profit organization One80 Place, the candidates took turns discussing how to they address the root causes of homelessness, ensure there was widespread availability of affordable housing, and how they would fund those efforts.

While there is not data available on the homeless population living in Charleston specifically, 324 people were recorded as being homeless in the Lowcountry on a single night in January, according to the 2022 South Carolina State of Homelessness Report.

All of the candidates said it was necessary to generate economic opportunities for individuals facing homelessness and provide them with wrap-around services that can address challenges that often accompany or contribute to housing insecurity.

“Most folks who are experiencing homelessness have some other issue going on either medical, mental, addiction, and so addressing those issues with each individual really makes a difference in being able to get them housed,” current mayor John Tecklenburg said, citing his administration’s work on the Hope Center in downtown Charleston.

One80 Place CEO Stacy Denaux said that while current affordable housing projects like the Archer School renovation and Meeting Street Housing Plan are good solutions, affordable housing is a growing problem that will require long-term solutions.

“We hope to hear real answers real solutions, solutions that have concrete plans behind them, solutions that are funded, it is nice to have a vision, it is important to have a dream, it is important to have something aspirations. But we need concrete solutions with real-world implication, real-world possibility, sooner rather than later,” Denaux said ahead of the event.

One of those solutions, according to Denaux, is the creation of additional affordable housing units across the city and each of the candidates shared plans on how they might accomplish that.