Affordable housing on the table for County Council budget

Greenville County Chairman Dan Tripp stressed the need today to keep affordable housing a priority in the fluctuating county’s budget process.

Flanked by other Council members Liz Seman, Ennis Fant, Butch Kirven and Chris Harrison, as well as County Administrator Joe Kernell, Tripp said County Council has a specially called meeting this Friday, June 23 at 4 pm to “get back to basics” on the budget.

The proposed budget that would have increased people’s tax bill by seven mills as opposed to the first projected 11 stalled at a 6-6 vote earlier this week. That vote allows for for the budget process to continue. The deadline to pass the budget is June 30, 2023 at midnight.

While there have been many questions and proposals on what to cut from the budget, Tripp emphasized the need for more affordable housing because it was a countywide issued.

“We have to give people a place to live,” he said.

The Greenville Housing Fund is urging you to do two things in the next 24 hours:

— Call Council members  Blount, Bradley, Russo, Shaw and Tsouvelakas to let them know that affordable housing needs to be a budget priority and they can’t remove it. They need to hear from you.

– Contact Council members Tripp, Seman, Fant, Kirven, Harrison, Mitchell, and Barnes and thank them for supporting affordable housing. They need to know they are being supported for doing the right thing.

You can find their contact information here.