CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s largest city has a large shortage when it comes to rental housing in its downtown district and that’s hindering economic growth researchers said Tuesday.
The Charleston Area Alliance released a rental housing study that shows full occupancy. Alliance spokesperson Susie Salisbury said when researchers called they found no places to live.
“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,” Salisbury said.
The study showed there is 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, 20,000 people make the commute into Kanawha County daily for work. Researchers predicted if there were more places to live in the downtown area some of those commuters who choose to move to Charleston.
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.