Council Quickies: Housing on Catherine Simmons & Safety on the Light Rail

Charlotte City Council gathered Monday night for its first business meeting since new reps Joi Mayo (D3), JD Mazuera Arias (D5) and Kimberly Owens (D6) were sworn in last week.

The agenda was a relatively small one, though council members did get a chance to address concerns about public safety reamplified by a stabbing on the light rail on Friday and vote on one piece of a city/county partnership to address issues along Catherine Simmons Avenue. 

On the Agenda:

• JCSU Recognition & Public Forum
• Affordable Housing Program & Other Business
• Public Safety Discussion

JCSU Recognition & Public Forum

The Johnson C. Smith University football team was in attendance on Monday night as Charlotte City Council recognized the Golden Bulls for winning their first 2025 CIAA Football Championship in 56 years.

James ‘Smuggie’ Mitchell offered a fun piece of Charlotte City Council trivia related to the championship win: The last time the Golden Bulls won a CIAA title back in 1969, Carlenia Ivory was the head cheerleader. She would go on to serve as a D2 rep on Charlotte City Council in 2017, appointed by council to replace Al Austin.

During the public forum, Matt Panik with the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance laid out his organization’s priorities in 2026: getting the MPTA up and running and advocating for airport infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, public safety, child care and education.

Rob Nanfelt with the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, known as REBIC, called council’s attention to the annual state of housing report, released in November. He said that when REBIC started publishing the report six years ago, a family of four earning roughly $75,000 a year could afford a median sales price home in the Charlotte metro. That number has doubled to almost $150,000 now.

Nanfelt suggested that new measures such as relaxing regulations on accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, will be needed to address this growing crisis. 

A UNC Charlotte EMT student cited Iryna Zarutska’s murder and the recent light rail stabbing on Friday in requesting that the city supplement its ongoing security changes by also implementing bystander intervention programming to help people understand how to act in an emergency.

A passenger on the Blue Line was stabbed by a drunk and disruptive stranger on the train on Friday night. The victim was stabbed in the chest. He is expected to recover, but was seriously injured.

Affordable Housing Program & Other Business

Council unanimously approved a motion to renew its annexation agreement with the Town of Harrisburg, ensuring that Charlotte will not annex into Cabarrus County and that Harrisburg will not annex into Mecklenburg County along the two towns’ shared border for 10 more years.

Council approved the purchase of three homes on Catherine Simmons Avenue across from Lincoln Heights Park for $465,000, to be renovated and transferred to a local nonprofit that will maintain them as affordable housing.

The purchase will be part of a larger partnership between the city and Mecklenburg County that seeks to reduce crime, address homelessness and foster equitable, community-driven development for residents in the area. 

In November, the county announced a new strategy for addressing homelessness and other ongoing health and human service issues in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, District 2 rep Malcolm Graham said CMPD is working “assertively, not aggressively” to address hotspots where drug dealing is occurring and homes thought to be nuisance properties in the area. 

“In addition, the purchase of these homes are about trying to change the narrative on that street in terms of addressing absentee landowners, those who are not taking care of their properties, and for the city to provide an opportunity for some of those homes to be affordable housing,” said Graham.  

“This is going to be the beginning not the end, for certain,” added Graham, who is working with Mecklenburg County commissioner Vilma Leake on the program. “We need to make sure that people are part of the change and not victims of it, and change is needed on Beatties Ford Road for certain. Change is needed on Catherine Simmons and I think this approach that we’re taking … is a step in the right direction.” 

As the sole provider of water for residents of Mount Holly and Belmont, Charlotte Water is adding a Gaston County resident to the Charlotte Water Advisory Committee to provide representation for that area and bring that committee up to eight members.

Public Safety Discussion

During closing council discussions, LaWana Mayfield stated that, as council goes into the holiday season, she wants residents to know that: “This council does have a priority on public safety. We all live in this community. All of us have families whether they’re children or elders in our community that want to take advantage of all the amenities that our city has. 

“It would be very helpful if the community also reaches out to our NC General Assembly in order to help guide them to support our courts, to support the funding needed with the Sheriff’s Department and Mecklenburg County to help fund our Health and Human services for those who need additional services that have not been able to access them. 

“Knowing that our CMPD, as they’re growing, is doing a wonderful job, their job stops at that arrest. Then it is another body that takes control and that is through the magistrates and the court system and it is our general assembly that is yet to pass a budget that can help us fund those resources,” Mayfield continued. “Keep us in your prayers, keep us accountable, but understand that we need help.”

District 6 rep Kimberly Owens said she was on a ride-along with CMPD officers on Friday night when the latest stabbing on the light rail occurred. She suggested that folks with strong opinions on public safety in Charlotte sign up to do a ride-along for a new perspective on public safety in Charlotte.

Council members will receive a safety update from interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle later this week.

Charlotte City Council will hold its final meeting of 2025, a zoning meeting, on Monday, Dec. 15.