CHARLESTON — The city’s housing authority has purchased a 209-unit apartment complex in West Ashley, describing the $39.75 million deal as an opportunity to preserve “naturally-occurring” affordable rental housing.
“The thought was that if we didn’t buy it, another investor might and could price people out of there,” said housing authority Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Erling.
In the past decade investors have been buying up apartments in West Ashley — just the sort of thing that prompted the housing authority’s concerns. The authority’s purchase of the 1800 Ashley West complex won’t turn those apartments into public housing or lower the rents, but with no tax bills or profit motive the authority could keep the rents from rising as they might have with a private owner.
“We’re trying to make some moves where people could look back 20 years from now and say, ‘that was a really great acquisition’,” said Erling.
This year the previous owners of the complex paid $23,520 in property taxes, according to county records, and that’s an expense the housing authority won’t face.
However, rents are expected to rise at 1800 Ashley West by about five percent, after the housing authority spends money to renovate the apartments, Erling said. That would take the average rents up to $1,449 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,714 for a two bedroom, which fits the city’s guidelines for workforce housing rent.
Workforce housing is a term used to describe homes people with moderate incomes can afford by spending no more than 30 percent of their income. For rentals, the standard is based on earning up to 80 percent of an area’s median income, which works out to $62,100 this year for a single person in Charleston County.
The 1800 Ashley West complex is located off William Kennerty Drive, next to the C.E. Williams Middle School North Campus, and has one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. It’s adjacent to Ashley Oaks, an apartment complex roughly twice as large that the authority previously bought.
“Anytime we can increase the inventory of affordable housing, I’m for it,” said city Councilman Keith Waring, who represents the area in West Ashley where the apartment complex is located. “If we can increase the stock and bring down market rate housing it’s a benefit to our community.”
The authority owns low-income housing, mostly on the Charleston peninsula, but also about 1,100 apartments that are not government-subsidized and are meant to rent at slightly below-market rates. More than half of those apartments are near S.C. Highway 61, in Ashley Oaks and 1800 Ashley West.
550 Meeting Street.
Charleston, SC 29403
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