There's a housing crisis on Hilton Head. Some officials are at odds over town's role to solve it.

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There’s a growing crisis on Hilton Head Island. 

A rising number of residents can no longer afford to live where they work. An increase in housing costs, a shrinking middle class and scarcity of housing units have contributed to a workforce housing shortage that threatens the quality of life for the entire island.

This week, town council passed a plan meant to mitigate the displacement of workers. The process to move that plan forward took nearly two years, the resignation of the town’s Housing Action Committee leaders, and a heated debate by council members that revealed diverging opinions on what role the town should take in solving its workforce housing shortage.

At its core, the Housing Displacement Mitigation Support Plan is intended to outline a communications network made up of local nonprofits and town officials. It offers guidance to community groups that pledged step up in the case of a housing displacement event such as the Chimney Cove evictions of 2022, when nearly 300 people were at risk of losing their homes due to a proposed redevelopment.

The Deep Well Project is the lead partner responsible for activating and coordinating a response. The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry provides funding, and the United Way of the Lowcountry oversees how that funding is used.

Councilwoman Tamara Becker spoke adamantly against the plan.

“I expect the private sector to step up and help out, and I expect the government to take a second seat to that,” Becker said.

Approval of the plan came with a narrow 4-3 vote after lengthy, and at times heated, debate. The plan has been in discussions for more than two years. That timeline was one of multiple reasons listed by two leaders of the town’s Housing Action Committee for their recent resignations.

Committee Chair Jack Alderman and Vice Chair Sandy West resigned May 14, citing frustrations and concerns that the town has made little meaningful progress since the committee formed in 2023.  

“It has become imminently clear that town government has not placed the committee in a position to effectively contribute to critically needed housing initiatives in support of the community’s workforce,” Alderman said at the time of his resignation.

In her own statement, West pointed to a March 17 Community Services and Public Safety Committee meeting. Comprised of council members, the committee was tasked with considering the Housing Action Committee’s Displacement Mitigation Support Plan.

Members chose to send the plan back to the Housing Action Committee rather than on to town council despite a suggestion from the town attorney to push it forward for full council consideration.

“I was most disheartened that the Community Services and Public Safety Committee insisted that the town insignia and symbols not be allowed on the document,” West said during the May 20 council meeting. “If that wasn’t a show of no support, I don’t know what would have been.”

Along with passing the plan, council voted to add the town logo to the document at the request of Councilman Alex Brown.

“There’s some of us on council that don’t agree this is a top priority,” Brown said, “and we need to say that but not disrupt the process, so that full council can take action on items that have been identified and that we need to move forward.”

The town in recent years has taken significant action to address its drastic workforce housing shortage. Studies were conducted, committees formed, development agreements signed, and, on May 20, the hard fought displacement mitigation plan was passed by council members.

The Town of Hilton Head estimates that more than 14,000 workers commute to the island for work each day, and nearly 4,400 workers commute 50 miles or more each way to get to work. It’s an issue that will continue to impact the island’s workforce and those who rely on a number of services, including hospitality and health care. 

The town also predicts the island will need at least 200 additional housing units a year for the next 10 years to make a positive impact in regards to workforce housing and affordability.

Over the last several years, the need for workforce housing has been studied and widely recognized, said Councilman Steve Alfred.

“The only way that we can make a dent is if the public sector is involved,” Alfred said, “and that’s the path the town has been moving on in recent years.”

The Chimney Cove apartment evictions of 2022 were a flashpoint. 

The apartment’s rental rates were among the most affordable on the island, although the monthly rate had gone from about $800 three years before to as much as $1,500 in 2022. New owners planned to tear down the buildings for redevelopment, but ultimately moved on from the project.

A study conducted by the town and published in 2022 found that the fastest-growing income groups on the island are those with incomes below $25,000 and those with incomes above $150,000. It’s a trend that is removing middle-income households from the community and puts upward pressure on prices and rents, putting housing further out of reach for many.

“There’s a lot more conversations that we need to have when it comes to housing,” Mayor Alan Perry said before the May 20 vote. “I support staff, I support the decision of the housing action committee, and I support the document that’s in front of us.”