Five Percent Inclusive Means 95% Exclusive
February 26, 2026
In 2021, representatives from Atrium Health pitched the Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners on a combined $75 million grant to subsidize a medical school complex and larger “innovation district.” Despite this request for public funding, Atrium reported making over $1.4 billion in profits in 2025 and paying its executives over $129 million, even though the company is technically a non-profit.
The area covered by the new district includes a portion of the former Brooklyn neighborhood, which the City destroyed through urban renewal in the 1960s, displacing roughly one thousand Black households, plus several hundred Black businesses, at least one dozen churches, and two schools. Atrium’s presentations included commitments to affordable housing units both on the site of the development and off-site. Unfortunately, the agreements signed by the City and County with Atrium fall far short of the just housing options needed to serve the public good.
$10M Investment in Affordable Housing
The Charlotte City Manager, presenting alongside an Atrium Health executive, told the City Council in 2021 that Atrium couldn’t possibly commit to any more than 5% of units as affordable in their new luxury residential tower, because the cost was “so expensive” at $10 million.1 The luxury tower is now planned for 382 total units, meaning only 19 would be affordable.
- We found out later that Atrium signed a separate agreement with Inlivian (below) that makes sure Inlivian will pay for those 19 affordable units, not Atrium.2 So what happened to the “expensive” $10 million investment?
Luxury Rents for Affordable Housing?
The image above, from Atrium’s contract with Inlivian, uses some jargon. Let’s break it down to get clear on what is happening.
- CMHA is the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, more commonly known as Atrium Health and/or Advocate Health.
- HUD is the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD provides the largest portion of subsidized housing funding in the country, typically through local housing authorities. In this case, the subsidies would be provided through Charlotte’s local housing authority, Inlivian.
- Subsidies. “Subsidies” here refers to housing vouchers. Some vouchers go to families. Others go to specific properties. These vouchers will stay with the Atrium property at The Pearl.
- Fair Market Value. HUD’s formula says that fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Charlotte is $1,686. 150% of that is $2,529.
- So….each month, a family in an affordable unit pays roughly one-third of their income toward rent to Atrium's landlord partners. Then, Inlivian pays more rent to those landlords, so that the total haul for that month is about $2,500.
- This arrangement ensures that Atrium’s landlord partners for this luxury tower aren’t taking any losses on the affordable units, and Atrium gets away without contributing any real investment in the development.
A Twenty Year Affordability Period?
The above image is from the contract between The Pearl Innovation District Management Company, an Atrium subsidiary, and the City of Charlotte. “The affordable housing units…shall be reserved for 20 years” is one key phrase in this contract. Let’s break it down.
- When applying for public funds for affordable housing, developers guarantee an affordability period during which they agree that a property will be available only to lower-income tenants. That’s the public good that makes us agree to send them our tax dollars.
- Different governments require different affordability periods.The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, the largest funder of affordable housing in the state, requires 30 years. In Charlotte’s peer cities, 50 years is becoming more common.
- In 2018, Charlotte had a shortage of 32,000 affordable units. In 2026, that figure is now more than 40,000 units. In 20 years, do you think the issue will have gotten so much better that it will be fine to evict the families in these units? Will affordable housing be plentiful by then?
Atrium and its partners have been happy to borrow imagery from the legacy of the Brooklyn neighborhood for their medical school and technology campus. The larger development is called “The Pearl” after Pearl Street Park, the primary park in Charlotte that was accessible to Black residents during segregation. The developers designed an attractive series of historic markers and photos that display the neighborhood’s history. These are nice gestures, but the damage urban renewal did to Charlotte was not a lack of pictures. It was homelessness and instability and deep economic struggle placed upon Black communities.
The Redress Movement, the Brooklyn Coalition, and our partners are urging Atrium to make a commitment that will actually support our neighbors: 20% of the new apartments at The Pearl should be affordable, half of them at 50% AMI and below, and the other half at 80% AMI and below. The affordability period on those apartments should expire after 50 years rather than 20. Our city has had enough of exclusion papered over by clever marketing. We need real solutions from institutions committed to inclusion for every neighbor and every neighborhood.
ENDNOTES
1Video archive of Tracy Dotson, Charlotte Assistant City Manager, presenting alongside Colin H. Lane, Senior VP at Atrium, to Charlotte City Council, November 22, 2021, 5:04:22, https://charlottenc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=3315.
2Exchange Agreement between Horizon Development Properties and The Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, April 10, 2025, pg. 3
