MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Myrtle Beach Workforce Housing Advisory Board could soon be able to make sure up to four families who work in the city have a place to call home in the community.
Myrtle Beach City Council approved three-quarters of an acre of land for the Workforce Housing Advisory Board to place up to four properties diagonally across from the Mary C. Canty Recreation Center last Tuesday.
One board member says the development could be a step in the right direction towards aiding the ‘workforce housing epidemic’.
“We’re just excited to really put our teeth into the workforce housing problem,” said Research and Development Analyst Amber Campbell. “It’s its own epidemic across the nation.”
Campbell says data points out it’s also an epidemic across the state. The SC Housing organization says in 41 of 46 South Carolina counties, the average renter can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment.
In the Pee Dee, Darlington and Marlboro counties are two of the five counties considered to be affordable.
Campbell says city council formed the Workforce Housing Advisory Board because it was important for council and board members to make sure the city’s workforce will be able to live and work in the same place.
“It’s going to give them quality housing. It’s going to give them a close access to where they are working, and it’s going to help the community just continue to raise its level of viability,” she said.
The advisory board’s fund is what paid for the $55,000 tract of land, and construction permit fees from across the city are what goes to support that fund.
Now, they’re early in the planning process for the development, so they aren’t sure when construction could start or how much the housing itself could cost.
“We’re not sure exactly what the development fee is going to be,” said Campbell. “It’s going to depend upon the product that goes there, what type of housing goes there, and also if we are eligible for some additional federal funding to kind of offset that price to again keep it as affordable as possible.”
