The Charity Foundation

Affordable Housing

As gentrification sinks its teeth into the North Charleston area, The Charity Foundation is leading an initiative to transform Liberty Hill, a predominantly Black neighborhood in the area, into a community with a strong foundation of multi-generational, economically stable individuals and families.

While this initiative has many moving pieces, our work with the Charity foundation focuses on their affordable housing projects and having a helping hand in making it possible for residences of Liberty Hill to be able to afford to stay in the area.

“If you look at the new construction surrounding Liberty Hill you will find homes that start at $300,000,” said Nashonda Hunter, executive director of The Charity Foundation. “People in this area can’t afford that and that’s not fair. We want to make sure we are keeping this area affordable for those who historically have lived in this area. We want to make sure they don’t get pushed out.”

Liberty Hill is one of the Lowcountry’s oldest Black American communities, having been founded by freed slaves whose descendants still reside in the neighborhood. We provided the organization with a $211,375 loan to build a single-family home on land granted to them by the City of North Charleston.

Although SCCLF typically focuses on multi-family affordable housing developments, partnering with Charity Foundation presented an opportunity to act as a catalyst for future developments, providing an affordable means for residents of a historically and culturally significant community to build generational wealth through property ownership.

This home will be the start of The Charity Foundation’s larger movement to preserve a historic community. They have already begin planning for other affordable housing projects that include multi-family structures.

“We want to keep as many people living here as we can,” said Nashonda.