Town approves bonus aimed at increasing workforce housing on Hilton Head
A plan to increase workforce housing on Hilton Head Island by allowing developers to build twice as many units is official town policy, finally. The Town Council approved it Tuesday in a 6-1 vote.
The bonus density proposal, an amendment to the town’s code, allows workforce housing developers on Hilton Head Island to double the number of units they can offer in a given space, under specific conditions. It goes into effect immediately.
The program provides a profit motive for developers to build affordable housing for Hilton Head’s thousands of low- and middle-income workers. The island has struggled for decades to house the working class that fuels its tourism economy, leading many to live off-island and commute or find work elsewhere.
The policy came out of a study done in 2018 that showed the need for affordable homes for the people who work on the island. Several small workforce housing developments have popped up in recent years, but Tuesday’s action codifies a formal program with specific regulations and benefits.
In November, the Town Council voted to create the workforce housing program and allow the conversion of underutilized commercial property to market-rate or workforce housing units.
At that meeting, council was presented with the initial bonus density proposal, which would have permitted developers to double the housing density in several zoning districts so long as half the units they created were for workforce housing. Concerned about how extensive the program would be and that it would have allowed for too many market-rate housing units, council sent the proposal back to town staff for tailoring.
The amended proposal doubles the number of workforce housing units the developer must offer to earn the density bonus and cuts the number of acres eligible for the program by 91% to 160.
Only properties zoned in low- to moderate-density residential areas, located near minor arterial roads and consisting of at least three acres, now qualify for the program. Workforce housing developments located within single-family subdivisions or permanent multifamily developments — with the exception of mobile home parks — are not eligible for the bonus density, and neither are waterfront properties or those located near the airport.
Group living situations, including dormitory-style living, are not eligible for the bonus density program. The public planning committee voted to remove group living situations as an option Jan. 12, voicing concerns about overcrowding. The planning commission later approved the removal.
The maximum density developers can have under the proposal is 12 units per acre, including what they build and what already exists on the property. That means no more than 1,920 units among the 160 eligible acres, with at least half being workforce housing units.
Town Council passed the proposal in its first reading Jan. 19. At that meeting and on Tuesday, Ward Four Councilmember Tamara Becker voted against the proposal, saying she did not support its inclusion of mobile homes as eligible workforce housing properties.
David Ames, Ward Three councilmember and public planning committee chair, said the proposal was “a step in the right direction.” Other councilmembers have called the proposal “a toe in the water.”
“We know that we have a workforce and affordable housing crisis on Hilton Head,” Ward One Councilmember Alex Brown said Jan. 19. “We will have to do more.”
