City of Charleston rolling out grant program to help with affordable housing

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The city of Charleston is rolling out a new grant program that could offer more affordable housing.

City officials are planning to use $200,000 to incentivize homeowners to build accessible dwelling units, or ADU’s, on their property. The unit is an independent living facility for no more than two adults, which acts like a tiny home in a person’s yard or a garage apartment.

The goal with the program is to facilitate additional workforce and affordable housing in single family neighborhoods throughout the city of Charleston. The money would go towards construction of ten units, which would be rented out as affordable housing.

“What we wanted to do in providing the $20,000 per house for the construction of the ADU’s. is use that as an incentive and use that as an opportunity to bring people to the table.so that they would see this as an opportunity for themselves as well as a benefit for the community,” Charleston Housing & Community Development Director Geona Shaw Johnson said.

Charleston city council approved an accessible dwelling unit ordinance in August 2020. Under the ordinance, units are limited to 850 square feet of conditioned floor area and occupancy by no more than two adults.

Homeowners also must provide one off-street parking space for the occupants and comply with all other city ordinances and codes.

Johnson says if they receive a lot of interest from homeowners, they will need to look at other funding sources to continue the program.

In addition to providing the construction assistance, city officials are also looking to provide design opportunities for people who participate.

City officials say they hope to accept applications for the program later this summer.

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