Our View: Find solutions for affordable rental housing

As apartment rents continue to rise in Bluffton, more people are fleeing to find lower-cost alternatives.

That means longer, costlier commutes for many who work in the local hospitality industry and other businesses our economy depends upon. For some residents, it could mean being forced to leave their hometown.

Affordable housing was often discussed in southern Beaufort County in the early 2000s, before the Great Recession when property values skyrocketed and many workers were priced out of the real estate market.

On the rental market, many apartment complexes were converted to condos and the units sold. Renters who couldn't afford to buy were left scrambling for housing farther away from the business corridor of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton.

And as the economy improves, the cycle continues. Now, higher-rent apartment complexes are sprouting up, and as Section 8 housing tax breaks end, owners are renovating and raising rents. As development increases, land and housing prices will also rise, making affordable housing scarcer.

So what can be done to stem the outgoing tide of workers?

The nonprofit Jasper County Neighbors United presents a model worth considering.

The organization was started in 2000 by two Catholic nuns and works with various organizations, companies and local governments to build communities for low- to moderate-income workers.

Last year, the organization completed a revamp of its 42-apartment Mercy Circle complex in Hardeeville with funding from the Lowcountry Council of Governments, the city of Hardeeville and Jasper County.

Rents range from $500 to $700 a month.

Residents who pay rent on time each month for two years can move to its 26-home Fairfield Village, where rents are $385 to $500 a month.

Residents who continue the two-year, on-time rental payments there can become eligible for the organization's first-time homebuyer program.

Executive director Tedd Moyd says the nonprofit is ready to help Beaufort County residents and partner with local governments, companies and organizations.

The town of Bluffton worked with the Jasper organization for its affordable-housing project on Wharf Street. The town's focus has been on affordable home ownership, though, rather than renting. And it only had enough money to build six houses.

Town officials have also been discussing incentives for developers, who could build affordable rental housing, but no concrete plans are in place.

As we've seen in the past, local government efforts at affordable housing can be helpful, at least in the short-term, but nowhere near enough to make a dent in the problem.

So it will take a greater collaborative effort among local governments, nonprofit organizations, churches, and companies that benefit from low-wage employees to make Beaufort County a place workers can afford to live.

Rental solutions need to be found soon before the problem gets worse.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Our View: Find solutions for affordable rental housing."