If your character is on their home world you can try right clicking them on the character selection and using the world visit feature

That should send your character back to their city state on the next log-in, and from there, you can go back to your corresponding world using the aetherite

This suggestion is made with the consideration that by making a new character you were able to load, but the housing district is what may be causing the issues

If it doesn't work I hope a SE employee can help you with the issue more directly