Ask any Republican politician if he favors affordable housing. Of course he (or she) does. Then ask why, after governing this state virtually unopposed for thirty years, has the Republican party made no progress whatsoever in addressing this problem.
Then put the question to Katie McCravy, who is running for House District Seat 102. Given her extensive background in banking and finance, she will not mouth Republican talking points. She first asks a logical question that legislators ought to ask: “What does affordable mean? How much can the average South Carolina family afford to pay for housing?”
Then she references ALICE, which stands for people who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, [and] Employed. This should be a key target audience for affordable housing. They are often working two jobs but still can’t get ahead in this economy.
In the tri-county area, 38% of households are in this category, struggling to afford decent housing. The percentage is much higher for single parent households.
McCravy estimates it takes $90,000 in pre-tax income for a family to pay for decent housing (and purchase food, clothing, transportation, and so on).
A South Carolinian working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year at a $20-an-hour job would earn $40,000 a year. A couple would bring in $80,000, approaching McCravy’s estimate of what is required. But, she notes, South Carolina has no minimum wage. and if it did, $20 would be a pipe dream.
As a legislator, McCravy would try to lift the minimum wage, which at present cannot address the affordable housing crisis. New housing that starts at $300,000 clearly doesn’t qualify as affordable.
Her approach is a logical one. It illustrates McCravy’s mantra as a future legislator: “Make it affordable. Make it better. Make it happen.”
McCravy is currently Community Engagement Coordinator for a Community Development Financial Institution in Charleston. This institution is dedicated to building resilient communities and “putting people over profit.”
From this position she helped make two projects happen that speak to her goals of promoting small businesses, empowering young entrepreneurs, and helping small minority-owned start-ups get a foothold on the peninsula.
The Esau and Janie B. Jenkins Legacy Corner is a restored, historic Black-owned site at the corner of King and Cannon in downtown Charleston. It now houses the King Market, with room for other businesses. On its second level are affordable housing units. McCravy says she dedicated three or four years to this project and helped arrange the loans to make it happen.
A second McCravy project is Charleston’s Entrepreneur Resource Center at 91 Hanover Street. This is a new 7000+ square foot business incubator and co-working space for entrepreneurs without much capital. It has a special focus serving minority and women-owned businesses.
This is McCravy’s realistic response to the question of affordable housing: help people afford housing by backing their business aspirations.
As a legislator, she would crack down on developers who promise to build affordable housing to get their foot into a community, but then walk away from that promise. They pay a fine and build only what they wanted to build in the first place. (This strategy is often planned at the start, with the financial penalty baked into the developer’s business plan.)
As a banker, McCravy was appalled that Republicans in the State Legislature were “surprised” that Republican State Treasurer Curtis Loftis somehow lost track of $1.8 billion in state funds. If she gets a seat on the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee or the Ways and Means Committee, she will demand regular audits of state funds and much more transparent fiscal reporting.
To support K-12 public education, McCravy would examine why more than 80 percent of the funds raised through the South Carolina Education Lottery go to higher education. She would designate a much higher percentage for K-12 schools.
Much of the 102nd district is rural, without adequate access to healthcare. McCravy proposes a partnership with MUSC’s medical school to forgive tuition loans taken out by young doctors if they agree to practice in these rural areas for a designated number of years. She would also try to recruit doctors who grew up in these areas and want to return to their hometowns to practice.
For twenty years, Democrat Joe Jefferson represented the 102nd District. He lost the seat in 2024 to turncoat Republican Harriet Holman, who began her duplicitous political career by switching parties because she thought it would make her more electable.
Holman managed to unseat Jefferson by a mere 804 votes out of 20,742 cast. Clearly this seat can be returned to a Democrat.
McCravy, unlike Holman, has been a visible presence and community-builder here for years. She is a past president of the Rotary Club in Summerville, a member of the board of Trident United Way, and an appointee to a minority women small business advisory board in Charleston, among many other volunteer positions.
McCravy is the type of legislator South Carolina desperately needs: one who is not consumed with Republican culture wars and wedge issues. She is a candidate with impressive real-world experience and a track record of actually making things happen for the good of the entire community.
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