Community leaders celebrated the groundbreaking this week of Duke’s Ridge, a new affordable housing community in Charlotte’s west side with 52 new townhomes. Four of those will be reserved for educators in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system.
Duke’s Ridge will be built in partnership with True Homes, Crosland Southeast and Freedom Communities. But the organizations also worked with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to reserve the homes for teachers.
District officials say they hope to pursue similar opportunities in the future, as housing affordability is a top concern for many teachers amidst Charlotte’s soaring housing market.
“They’re having to choose housing outside of Charlotte and drive in, in some cases 1 to 2-hour drives before and after serving our students all day,” said Nancy Brightwell, CMS chief of recruitment, retention and talent development. Or they’re living with multiple roommates, and of course, in many cases, they’re taking on second or third jobs to be able to afford housing.”
When those teachers purchase the homes, they will get considerable discounts with down payment assistance from the city of Charlotte and a gap funding program from Truist Bank.
More teachers will have access to similar opportunities in the future — True Homes has committed to building more affordable homes for teachers and other service employees, according to Raki McGregor, CMS chief executive in residence.
Brightwell says the district hopes that finding ways to offer similar support can help retain and attract teachers. Teacher turnovers and vacancies increased across the state in the 2022-2023 school year, the last year with available data. North Carolina ranks 38th in the country for teacher pay, according to the National Education Association.
“This is an ‘and,’” McGregor said. “No one is stopping our quest to increase wages for our educators. We will continue to do that, and we’re going to assist with the largest purchase most of our team members make, which is their own homes.”
