CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s largest city has a dramatic shortage of rental housing in its downtown district that’s hindering economic growth, researchers announced Tuesday.
The Charleston Area Alliance released a rental housing study that shows the area at full occupancy.
“If someone wants to come and take a job in downtown Charleston and live in downtown Charleston, there’s no place for them to live,” said Alliance spokesperson Susie Salisbury.
The study showed property available for 600 units to be developed in the downtown area with a demand of 450 units.
“Our demand is really close to what our physical capacity is,” Salisbury said.
The alliance plans to submit the research information to developers.
“We will market the data and get it into developers’ hands,” Salisbury said.
According to the study, some 20,000 workers commute into Kanawha County daily. Researchers predicted some of those commuters would move to Charleston if there were more places to live in the downtown area.
Salisbury said the study is still in draft form and will be posted on the alliance’s website in about two weeks.
The study was done by Bowen National Research.