GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – The confetti has been popped as a groundbreaking ceremony was held today bringing more affordable housing to Greenville.

According to the City of Greenville’s website, median household annual income is more than $50,000.

Greenville’s newest project, The Riley at Overbrook, will be located off Interstate 385 on Lowndes Hill Road, made available to those making between $12,000 and $48,000 a year.

“We are in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, not only in Greenville but across the state of South Carolina and across the nation,” Bryan Brown, president and CEO of the Greenville Housing Fund, said.

The Riley At Overbrook will have 88 units. Of those, 69 will be priced at or below 60% median average income. Nineteen of those units will be priced even lower.

Brown said affordability is needed as housing costs are rising faster than wages.

“We have a lot of demand for housing because we have a growing, thriving community and our supply is not keeping up with that and so it is pushing the price points up,” Brown said.

Greenville City Council currently contributes $2.5 million each year to the Affordable Housing Fund, it said it plan to continue adding to that.

In September of this year the Greenville Housing Fund and the City of Greenville accelerated funding for more affordable housing projects, through a loan totaling more than $13 million.

“It is really our secret weapon,” Greenville Mayor Knox White said. “It is why many communities across the country deal with affordable housing and workforce housing issues and almost just throw their hands up and say we can’t do this. In Greenville we can because we have this wonderful tradition of public, private partnerships.”

The Greenville Housing Fund was created in 2018 to cut the affordable housing gap in half with at least 3,500-3,700 units made available in the city.

White said they’re on track.

“Within the City limits of Greenville I believe we will not only cut it in half, we will virtually eliminate the workforce public housing project gap, rather in about five years and stay on track with the projects we already see,” White said.

The Riley at Overbrook project is expected to be completed in 2025.