Secretary Fudge Visits the Queen City

From left, William "Mack" McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, and City of Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles visit the Renaissance West housing development.

Secretary Fudge and City of Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles meet with Renaissance West residents.

On September 28, 2021, North Carolina's City of Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles hosted a two hour visit at the Renaissance West Community for the 18th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Marcia L. Fudge.

The City of Charlotte, known by locals as the Queen City, spent $5 million of Housing Trust Fund dollars to build the Renaissance West, a campus that offers more than affordable housing. It has a childcare development center and a charter school, offers job training sessions, promotes health and wellness of its residents. A YMCA center is within walking distance and has bus stops within the community to facilitate regional mobility go its more than 1,300 residents living in 334 mixed-income housing units. "This community is a model that the nation should follow. This is a development that I think is second to none, and I have traveled an awful lot to see what we are doing with senior housing and low-income and moderate housing," noted Secretary Fudge.

Secretary Fudge also spoke about House America, an all-hands-on-deck effort to address the nation's homelessness crisis. This initiative, led by HUD and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) is a partnership with state, tribal, and local leaders to use American Rescue Plan resources, alongside other federal, tribal, state, and local resources, to re-house households experiencing homelessness. The City of Charlotte has committed to support House America.

Secretary Fudge's visit came the day after the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved $23 million to be spent of Housing Trust funding on more affordable housing. Secretary Fudge noted Charlotte's effort to increase homeownership: "Homes are our wealth; it is what we pass down to our children and children's children. And so, if we don't ever create something that is going to give us wealth, it just becomes a vicious cycle."

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