We were glad to be in Sylva on June 18 for a Housing Summit hosted by Western Carolina University and the Southwestern Commission Council of Governments. Bob provided the keynote address (slides available on our LinkedIn) and were pleased to see and be around so many people who recognize and are ready to work on the housing problem.
A major theme of the event was that there is neither one housing problem nor one way to address it, and no one person or organization can tackle it on their own.
Several other ideas resonated throughout as well:
- Housing is economic development. If you have a housing problem you do, or will soon, have an economic development problem as well. You would be well served to address them in tandem and with the same level of importance. (Wondering about the concept of housing as economic development? See our blog post).
- “Workforce Housing” can mean a lot of different things. Drill down with your community and potential developers about what it means to you. Are you referring to housing for teachers and police officers or for cashiers and retail workers? Or something else entirely?
- Partnerships are essential. We heard from developers of various kinds of projects who all agreed that the projects could not be accomplished without all the parties involved. Find the people in your community who are working on an aspect of the housing issue, or who want to, and start talking.
- Show that you are open for business. Take steps to be ready for housing development opportunities. Draft and advertise your housing incentive policy or go ahead and get that geotechnical survey of desirable plots so you know where all the rock is.
- It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. There are things you can do right away that won’t blow your whole budget. Think flexible and thoughtful zoning (allowing for ADUs or eliminating parking requirements) or just prioritizing the timely review of proposals. We love StrongTown’s Housing Ready Toolkit for six ideas that cost nothing except political will.
- Persevere. The housing needs of your community will not be addressed overnight or by one project. Similarly, projects take a long time and there can be many points where it seems like it won’t work out. Be flexible and creative when it comes to problem solving and don’t be discouraged by the first, or even second, “no.”
- Just START! Take the problem in front of you and do one thing to chip away at it. Eat the elephant one bite at a time.
If you’d like to hear more about our experience at the summit or share thoughts on any of the items above, please reach out – we’d love to talk more!