Apartment units from downtown to the sea islands are filling up faster than they can be built — despite nearly 10,000 units opening in the Charleston market over the last three years, according to an August study.
“As much as these numbers sound big, we are behind in housing,” said Robert Summerfield, Charleston’s director of planning, preservation and sustainability. “Not only have we continued to see this population pressure as more people recognize Charleston as a place to live, but we’re still trying to catch up with the decade before that.
“And at the same time, our housing stock has aged and in many cases may have needed to be taken offline to add new housing stock as redevelopment cycles occur.”
According to the study by RentCafe, 9,733 new apartments opened throughout the Charleston-area rental market since the beginning of 2020, which many may find surprising since that’s when the Covid pandemic started, too. The city of Charleston saw the most growth, with 4,304 new apartments. Some 2,191 new units opened in Summerville while North Charleston got 1,390 new units.
Meanwhile, new development isn’t slowing down, as 3,563 new rentals are on track to be built by the end of the year. But it still may not be enough to meet demand.
“It sounds crazy, but you have people going to college, paying the cost of going to university these days, [but they’re also] living in their car or couch surfing,” Summerfield said. “They can’t afford college, food to eat and a place to stay.”
The problem isn’t unique to Charleston, which falls just short of the top 20 metro areas for apartment construction, according to RentCafe. More than 1.2 million apartments opened throughout the country since 2020, and another 1 million are expected through 2025, according to an annual study. Almost two-thirds of the apartments built during the pandemic-era boom are clustered in the top 20 high-growth metros, which make up about 41% of the total renter population in the U.S.
“I don’t know of any community in the U.S. that is able to keep up with housing demand,” Summerfield said.
Not a new issue
Still city leaders often see pushback from community members on new housing construction. But as much controversy as new apartment development can cause locals, Summerfield said, it’s important for people to realize this isn’t a new issue.
“The community has struggled with thinking of themselves as very small, but not quite being as small as they think,” he said. “We all remember yesterday in a different light and through a different filter. They remember when Charleston was small, but I often ask folks, ‘Well was it ever really that small?’
“Back in the day, when the city was just the peninsula and parts of West Ashley, the population density was still really high,” he added. “People’s perception of how small we were and how fast we’re growing, there’s more to it.”
And in many cases, the alternative is a lot worse, Summerfield explained.
“What we see happen — and this isn’t anecdotal; we have the data to show it — those folks that can’t afford a home on the peninsula, or a home their family has held for generations, they end up going out to West Ashley or the sea islands,” he said. “That pushes development into areas that stress our transportation system or necessitates additional services in those areas, which drives up municipal costs.”
Workers in Charleston’s massive service industry leave gaps in the workforce that eventually drive up prices for locals and visitors alike, Summerfield said. And in the worst case, homelessness rates increase.
“It creates a domino effect,” he said.
The more community support for housing development, especially that which meets the needs of multiple income levels, Summerfield said, the easier time area leaders will have meeting that demand.
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