Common Cause Loan Fund

Preserve our communities, protect Charleston's neighborhoods

Preserving the community means protecting long-term residents by ensuring that they can stay in their homes.

Fusing historic preservation with efforts to maintain naturally occurring affordable housing, Common Cause Loan Fund (CCLF) is a program established by Historic Charleston Foundation (HCF) and the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation (CRC) to provide aid to qualified homeowners, to repair, maintain, and preserve the exterior envelope of their historic properties.

Maintenance of historic homes can become a burden for many. Sometimes this forces homeowners whose families have been in their home for generations to relocate. Unfortunately, displacement and gentrification is a growing problem in the Charleston area. The loss of long-term community members permanently disrupts the character of our beloved neighborhoods.

By working with residents to repair their homes, the places that matter most, the Common Cause Loan Fund provides resources to help generational homeowners and preserve the cultural identity of Charleston.

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What WE Do

Help preserve the cultural identity of Charleston by keeping generational homeowners in their historic homes.

Provide resources for income-qualifying residents to repair, maintain and preserve their homes.

Maintain naturally occurring affordable housing in Charleston.

“Preserving existing home ownership is core to our mission. It is one thing to build new homes, but it’s another to keep existing homeowners in their homes for the long term.”

– F.A. Johnson, Charleston Redevelopment Corporation, HCF Partner Organization

The Charleston region’s population is growing 3x faster than the national average. More than 30 people are moving to the area per day and the city of Charleston’s owner occupied housing rates are almost 15% lower than the state average.

Charleston County Economic Development Department

“It’s about keeping the character of the communities intact.”

– April Wood, Historic Charleston Foundation

Preserving Our Communities, Protecting Charleston’s Neighborhoods

Est. in 2023, this video discusses the program with partners, community members and homeowners of the first CCLF projects in Charleston’s historic Eastside neighborhood. Historic Charleston Foundation (HCF) in partnership with the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation (CRC) and supported by the City of Charleston and the 1772 Foundation, is steadfast in our commitment to this program. (Video filmed and produced by Thesis Content, 2023)

dedicated to keeping the house in the family

67 Ashe Street

Ms. Whaley has owned 67 Ashe Street for nearly fifty years, and has lived in the Eastside neighborhood for even longer. She and her family are longtime fixtures in the community. Ms. Whaley, is a retired teacher and an active member of both the Burke High School Alumni Association and the Charleston Club of Washington, D.C. She currently works at one of the oldest Black funeral home businesses in Charleston.

As a single mother, she raised her now grown daughter in this home, and has seen firsthand how the neighborhood has changed over the years. In the 1960s, the city constructed the Septima P. Clark Expressway, or “Crosstown,” splitting her neighborhood apart and disrupting the tight-knit community of families with young children that filled the area. Many of these families who lived in this neighborhood for generations have since moved away, but Ms. Whaley is dedicated to keeping her house in the family, and having a place in downtown Charleston where her daughter and extended family can always call home.

PRESERVING A LEGACY

283 Ashley Avenue

Built in 1912 by prominent African-American building contractor, Edward T. Edwards, 283 Ashley Avenue remains in the same family 112 years later. Remarkably, each subsequent generation followed in Edward’s footsteps and found their calling in the building and masonry trades. In April of 1996, husband of the current owner, and descendant of Edwards, Mr. Arthur R. Mikell, Jr., received the Stoney Craftsmanship Award from Historic Charleston Foundation for his excellent masonry work found throughout Charleston.

After Mr. Mikell’s passing, his wife Ronda has remained in the home where she raised their daughter, Ramona, and is dedicated to maintaining ownership of 283 Ashley Avenue, and continuing her husband’s family legacy. She’s seen great change in the Westside neighborhood over the years. Many of the surrounding homes were once owned by members of their family, also dedicated craftsmen, but only a few remain in their family. With assistance from the Common Cause Loan Fund, Mrs. Mikell is able to keep their house for future generations.

“I want it to be passed down to my daughter, so she can know the history of this house. I have to make that my priority.”

– Ronda Mikell, Owner, 283 Ashley Avenue

A PIECE OF NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY

253 St. Margaret Street

Built in 1947, 253 St. Margaret Street was first owned by Ms. Rankin’s mother, who was a renowned Charleston tour guide for almost fifty years. Ms. Rankin has owned the house since her mother’s death in 1997, and has had a front row seat to the evolution of the Wagener Terrace neighborhood. Historically a middle-class neighborhood, real estate prices in the neighborhood have escalated in recent years, resulting in the displacement of many long-term families who couldn’t afford the upkeep of their historic homes. Fortunately, since receiving assistance from the Common Cause Loan Fund, critical repairs have enabled Ms. Rankin to remain in her home, keeping high-pressure offers at bay, and preserving a piece of the neighborhood’s history.

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