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Taking care of those who take care of you Community Development Issues Forum focuses on need for stability, opportunity for essential workforce
Your county has worked for years to promote itself as a great destination for new businesses, and you’ve finally been discovered. As a growing county, your tax base is benefiting from an influx of new businesses and rising home valuations. Times are good, right? Possibly not if you are a teacher, daycare specialist, sanitation worker, emergency response technician, or other professional providing essential services for a below average salary. For you, the desire to live in a vibrant, growing county is outweighed by your inability to find affordable housing. “No community can exist without some of these people,” said Susan Perry Cole, president and chief executive officer of the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations (NCACDC).
And without adequate housing for its essential workforce, employers will have a hard time recruiting and retaining workers, and the local economy will falter. Affordable housing for essential workers was just one of the issues discussed at the NCACC’s Community Development Issues Forum, held June 8 at Edgecombe Community College’s Tarboro campus. The forum was developed by the Community Development Task Force, an ad hoc committee created by President Terry Garrison and chaired by Edgecombe County Commissioner Viola Harris. Perry Cole said local governments should seek to create an environment that encourages the development of workforce housing and presented the state’s southernmost county, Brunswick, as a good example of how to address unanticipated problems that arise with rapid growth.
As one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties, Brunswick saw its average home sales price rise from $168,994 in 2001 to $317,671 in 2006. If the starting salary for an entry level teacher is $25,510, and it takes an annual salary of close to $50,000 to afford a $175,000 home, that teacher has already been priced out of the county. “Can you imagine going there out of college?” Perry Cole asked. “Where are you going to live?” County leaders recognized the problem, and the NCACDC commissioned a study that will be prepared by the UNC Center for Urban and Regional Studies. Perry Cole said counties can utilize several strategies to expand workforce housing, including regulatory incentives and mandates, financial incentives, deed and covenant restrictions, and organizational infrastructure development. (Editor's note: Perry Cole will serve as a panelist during a workshop on affordable housing for essential personnel on Aug. 17 during the NCACC's Annual Conference.) Workforce development is another challenge faced by many rural counties. For years, rural counties have seen their best and brightest students leave for higher education. They never return.
Anne Bacon, senior director with N.C. Rural Center’s Workforce Development Office, calls this the “brain drain” and says she would like to see a county try a “big fish” campaign in an effort to lure some of the brightest young minds back to rural settings. Bacon suggested that a county form a committee around a recent, bright college graduate and have them provide input on how that county could look 20 to 30 years down the road. She also touted the need for counties to engage in “economic disaster” planning. “What if that one particular plant closes?” she asked. “You are stuck.” Bacon’s wish list also included a “no adult left behind” initiative. In the midst of an economic downturn, even workforce veterans can find themselves with no money and no transportation – and therefore no opportunity. “I’ve heard dislocated workers say they could not leave the house,” she said. “Many of them did retire but didn’t want to.”
For more information, contact NCACC Policy Advocate Anthony Allen at (919) 715-1430 or anthony.allen@ncacc.org. |
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