Workforce housing is essential to sustain the economy on Hilton Head Island | Op-Ed

Housing for a diverse, island workforce is essential if we are to sustain our economy and prosper as a Community of Excellence here on Hilton Head Island.

Why?

• The island doesn’t have enough workers, let alone qualified, well-trained and motivated ones for existing and prospective businesses.
• Off-island growth and travel times are sapping the island’s ability to attract and retain workers.
• Island businesses are constantly challenged to provide consistent, quality service to residents and guests.
• The lack of workforce housing is an impediment to recruiting critical workers.
• The transition of long-term rentals to short-term rentals has seriously depleted the supply of workforce housing.
• The concern of housing affordability grows as residential and tourist popularity rises.
• 50% of island renters are already cost-burdened.

For reasons of the economy and our communal benefit, decent housing for workers is as critical an element of infrastructure as roads, water and sewer. Hilton Head Island cannot function— let alone flourish — without workers, nor can it attract the next generation of community leaders without having places for them to live here today.

I do not agree with public statements that transportation will solve the “worker problem” on Hilton Head Island, nor should it be the only focus. The notion of a regional public transportation system that somehow will collect workers from distant places — or at a hypothetical, “mass parking” lot in Bluffton — and then distribute them to their individual, on-island workplaces is unrealistic and unappealing.

Consider a system that twice-daily marshals about 10,000 off-island workers into 250 buses each rush-hour. The image does not reflect well on our community. And each of us is our community.

Fixing both the housing and transportation issues would have the best chance of addressing the demand for island employees. However, the Town of Hilton Head Island is not in a position to solve public transportation by itself. The Town can only be a part of a regional transportation consortium of governments. On the other hand, Hilton Head Island Town Council can and should focus on island housing, in which it can directly influence quality, aesthetics, density, incentives and investment.

Establishing an effective workforce housing program will require Town Council leadership and public investment because the gap between project costs and revenues will not be filled by traditional private sector financing.

Success depends on the Town Council’s telling the whole story in one voice so that residents understand what is at stake. Three goals make sense: Investing in housing. Supporting public transportation. And, developing a regional housing strategy. We will not satisfy 100% of housing demands on the island, but we, as a Council, have had eight housing strategies in front of us for two years. It is time to implement them.

And, time is not on our side.

David Ames represents Ward 3 on the Hilton Head Island Town Council.