Charleston Reporter

Darrell Davis, Charleston County's affordable housing expert, who has been on the job since October, faces a problem common to many area renters: finding affordable housing.

Davis posted the following on Facebook after accepting the position: "Charleston County, South Carolina, affirms its commitment to housing opportunity for all by creating a new department responsible for community revitalization and housing affordability. I am honored to have been chosen as the first director of this new county department. I look forward to working with the county council and the citizens of Charleston County to eliminate homelessness and provide safe, decent and affordable housing to all of its families and households."

Darrell Davis | LinkedIn

Davis told The Post and Courier that he watched rent prices go from $1,000 when he first interviewed for the position earlier in the year to $1,300 when he was actually ready to rent. He found a temporary home miles away in Summerville but is still looking for an affordable home so that his wife, Eltina, and the youngest two of his five children may join him.

As Charleston County's Community Revitalization and Housing Affordability director, who lived in public housing when he was a child, Davis said his experience is representative of the reality of the local housing market.

"One of the challenges is the number of people coming into Charleston from northeastern cities," Davis told The Post and Courier. "They are used to paying more for housing. A lot of them are telecommuting and they are used to making New York or New Jersey money."

However, families of lesser means are having a much harder time finding affordable housing in Charleston County.

"I have a pretty good job, a pretty good career, and I experienced the challenges of renting an apartment in Charleston," Davis said, according to The Post and Courier. "I can’t imaging what many families are going through."

Davis previously worked almost three decades in urban development, real estate finance and affordable housing, most recently as development division director for Miami-Dade County in Florida, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, Davis was chief development officer with the District of Columbia Housing Authority and for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

By the time Davis arrived in Charleston County, voters had rejected a tax referendum that would have funded housing affordability.

Charleston County doesn't own nor operate its own low-income housing. Instead, those services are provided by three housing authorities -- Charleston, North Charleston and Charleston County -- but the county has been exploring ways to create more housing that people with moderate incomes can afford. The county also has spent almost  $2.5 million in federal funds to purchase 18 vacant Charleston County Housing Authority homes, to keep them off the open market, and is exploring ways to provide affordable housing for moderate-income families.

Part of the challenge, Davis said, is Charleston's tourism-reliant economy that creates low-paying jobs and demand for high-priced homes for affluent visitors who turn into part-time or permanent residents.

"It's the city of Charleston that is sort of driving the growth patterns, and as housing gets more expensive, more people are pushing out," Davis told The Post and Courier.

That's the main challenge the county is facing, Davis said.

"How can we plan to bring the growth in a managed and reasonable manner?" he said, according to The Post and Courier. "That is part of the solution to affordable housing. Governments can influence the market, but they can't control the market."

Davis also said he is excited about facing the challenge, and he is confident that the county can improve the situation.

"No matter if you have a dedicated funding source or not, it’s always hard to raise the money to create affordable housing," Davis told The Post and Courier. "It’s something I’ve done in multiple cities, and I think we will be successful here."