Greenville’s growth is pushing out its past. It doesn’t have to.

This spring, Travelers Rest saw a local citizen uprising against a proposed 153-room hotel on Paris Mountain. Residents decried the potential disruptive impacts of such a major development, from increased traffic and environmental impacts to changing the area’s fundamental character and forcing out longtime residents.

For many Greenvillians, the worries of Paris Mountain dwellers are a lived reality every day. Drive around Nicholtown, and you’ll see homes being built that cost two, three, four times the neighborhood’s original house next door. People who have lived in the area for generations must watch the houses their parents and grandparents built become unaffordable due to the soaring property taxes that follow these new high-end developments. Eventually, these families are forced to sell their homes, often for well below the land’s worth.

This is a growing crisis in Greenville’s historically black neighborhoods, where long-term residents face displacement amid a city booming with new businesses and an influx of newcomers. In Nicholtown, the black population has fallen from 4,540 in 1990 to 2,634 in 2020 while the white population has more than doubled. And this isn’t isolated. Locally, we see this pattern in the West Greenville, New Washington Heights and Sterling communities. It’s also playing out across the state. In Charleston, for example, while the overall population increased by 55.5 percent from 2000 to 2020, the black population dropped 22.5 percent during that same time period.

The erosion of long-established minority neighborhoods diminishes any city’s soul. Some of the very things that make Greenville charming and attractive are threatened, as historic houses, each with unique character, are replaced by cookie-cutter townhomes, and people who can tell the rich stories of the mill town that Greenville once was are being forced out.

This is not just a crisis for black residents. The systematic disinvestment that once targeted black neighborhoods has evolved into an affordability crisis that threatens to reshape Greenville for everyone. Nearly a quarter of South Carolina’s renter households spend more than half their income on housing. This hurts working families and essential workers such as teachers, police officers and nurses who are struggling to afford living in the city they serve.

We do not have to sit back and watch our cities’ characters be sold to the highest bidder. There are ways to ensure that Greenville and other cities improve without destroying their history and pushing lifelong residents out.

To do this, we must look beyond Band-Aid solutions and instead look at systemic change.

The GVL2040 plan offers a roadmap, calling for “active investment in neighborhood-level planning” along with “support of reinvestment in older housing stock, and the pursuit of anti-displacement strategies such as land trusts.” The city’s commitment to creating a $40 million Affordable Housing Action Fund is a promising start, but we must hold our leaders accountable to using these funds on strategies that will create permanent affordability, such as:

• Community land trusts, which are powerful tools for creating permanently affordable housing. By having nonprofits own the land and lease it to homeowners, these trusts ensure housing remains affordable for future generations, preventing displacement due to rising property values. Through the Greenville Housing Fund’s Greenville Community Home Trust, more neighborhoods should be able to have a successful land trust like Sterling.
• Inclusionary zoning practices that require new developments to include affordable units. While Greenville is pushing for 10 percent in voluntary inclusionary zoning, a higher percentage is crucial, considering Greenville has the highest number of low-income renter households living in unsubsidized housing in the state, according to the S.C. Housing Needs Assessment. A mandatory policy is needed to ensure affordability.
• Workforce development and education programs that empower residents to earn higher wages, enabling them to afford housing and contribute to a thriving local economy. This means supporting partnerships that provide skills training and financial literacy.

These aren’t just solutions for specific communities; they’re investments in a thriving Greenville for all. A vibrant Greenville requires a diverse population and housing options for every income level.

Anyone can support this work by showing up, contacting your city council members and urging them to make these proven solutions a budget priority. Vote for candidates who have a clear plan to create affordable housing, and attend planning commission meetings to support developments that include affordable units. Together, we must ensure that as our city grows, we have the courage to grow inclusively.

Amiya Young is a senior at Furman University, majoring in health sciences and minoring in poverty studies. As a summer intern with Sustaining Way through the Riley Institute Summer Experience, Young researched gentrification in the Nicholtown neighborhood and Greenville.