HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. () — The atmosphere on Hilton Head Island is becoming increasingly tense due to mounting frustrations over the town’s sluggish advancements in addressing workforce housing issues.
Dozens of residents showed up at tonight’s council meeting, demanding answers and action.
“I’d appreciate if you’d please stand up,” said one community member, with a large group of people standing in support.
Numerous members of the community addressed the council, expressing their dissatisfaction with Hilton Head’s inadequate action regarding workforce housing solutions.
“The first step to anything is to recognize that we have a problem,” said another community member.
This comes after two members of the housing action committee, as well as the chief housing officer, recently announced their resignation.
The majority of the attendees supported the committee’s suggested displacement strategy, aiming to ensure that residents who might face displacement or property sales are notified in advance and able to seek further information or take necessary actions.
But several of those people said members of council don’t seem to think the issue is a priority, though an affordable housing needs study in 2018 proved it was a growing problem on the island
“When you stall and block and kick the can down the road like this, you make it look like the town is not dedicated to workforce housing,” one person said on the podium. “This kind of delay gives the impression that the town doesn’t worry as much about our people as much as we worry about offending developers.”
One person argued that without workforce housing, the town will start to see a lack of employment.
“What will the island be like? No one wants to work here. We need to support all the people on the island. Those who have and those who do not have”
Mayor Alan Perry apologized to the community that the workforce housing solution should have been a simpler process and the entire need surrounding housing was a topic that needed to be addressed
“We need to be open and honest about our discussion about where we stand with housing and how we’re going to move forward and make certain we’re doing the right thing for our community. There’s a lot more conversations that we need to have when it comes to housing,” said Perry.
In the end, the divided council approved an alternative version of the original displacement plan. They are now planning another specific workforce housing meeting for the public on July 29.
