Board member Anna London, District 6, made the motion Tuesday. Vice Chair Dee Rankin seconded. The vote was unanimous.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools approved an option to lease a seven-acre parcel adjacent to Garinger High School to Innovative Housing Solutions Foundation for 99 years, at $100 annually, with a hard deadline attached: IHSF must secure its fundraising by June 2027 and execute the lease by December 2027. The city of Charlotte has already contributed $1 million in pre-construction funding. CMS's cost: $0.
The numbers the project is built around: CMS's starting teacher salary runs about $48,000 a year. The income needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte runs about $63,000.
"That's a huge gap," CMS Board Chair Stephanie Sneed said before the vote. "And it is a crisis here in Charlotte."
The plan calls for at least 100 units — multifamily buildings, four-unit buildings, and townhomes — ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Rents will be set based on Charlotte's area median income.
How the Site Got Here
CMS has been developing the concept since at least December 2024, when the district held engagement meetings with educators. Katie Cornetto, an attorney with Pointer Spruill Law Firm and former general counsel to the North Carolina State Board of Education, described the procedural sequence that brought the vote to Tuesday's agenda: CMS declared the Garinger land surplus, brought it to the Board of County Commissioners in April, where the county declined its right of first refusal, then issued a request for information and selected IHSF as its partner.
No CMS operating funds moved at any stage. None will move at closing.
Amanda Kahn, CMS's executive director of retention and rewards, described the project's range of unit types as intentional.
"The reason it's a diverse set of rental opportunities is because we're working to create a community feel and ensure that this first project is attractive to educators wherever they are — whether they're single, whether they're living with a roommate, whether they have a family," Kahn said. "This is a place for all of them to find a home."
CMS is not starting a new category. Cornetto cited educator housing programs already operating in North Carolina: Dare County, Buncombe County, Brunswick County, Bertie County, Asheville City Schools, Hoke County, and Durham County through the Duke Teach House program.
The Board
London framed the vote as a parallel track, not a trade.
"Housing affordability is a real issue in Charlotte-Mecklenburg," she said, "and while continuing to advocate for higher pay, this is an innovative way to invest in the people who show up every single day for our students and families."
Board member Liz Monterrey Duvall, at-large, said she had received emails from educators at Garinger with concerns. She voted yes.
"We can address both things at the same time," Duvall said.
Board member Shamaiye Haynes, District 2, described the choice the same way: "This is a both-and kind of a situation."
Board member Cynthia Stone, District 5, added the explicit caveat.
"This is not going to stop the effort to advocate in Raleigh for increased teacher pay," Stone said.
Rankin, who seconded the motion, called it a beginning.
"This has been a long time," he said, "a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication. This is very innovative — just the start, the beginning to something that could be bigger."
Sneed acknowledged what the pilot framing implies.
"This is a pilot project, so it's not going to be perfect," she said. Her standard: housing "that we would live in, that we want to put our siblings in."
What IHSF Has to Do
From here, the work belongs to the foundation. Kahn laid out the sequence: IHSF engages architects and engineers, raises equity and debt financing, navigates city and county permitting, closes on the financing, and breaks ground.
The June 2027 fundraising deadline is the first hard gate. IHSF must have the money secured before the December 2027 lease execution becomes relevant.
Garinger is not the only property CMS is moving through the affordable housing pipeline. The board recently voted to sell the vacant Smith Family Center near Collinswood Language Academy in south Charlotte to Mecklenburg County for affordable housing, with 20 percent of units designated for teachers. That project and the Garinger development represent two models — one a land sale, one a 99-year lease — as CMS works on the gap between what it pays and what Charlotte costs.
Starting salary: about $48,000. One-bedroom threshold: about $63,000.
"That's a huge gap," Sneed said. "And it is a crisis here in Charlotte."
Sources: CMS Board of Education Business Meeting transcript, May 26, 2026; WFAE, James Farrell, May 26, 2026.
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