Affordable housing may seem simple at first: As a community grows, it needs to make sure that enough housing is affordable to low-income people who work there.
Most agree that people deserve to be able to live where they work.
But in Sussex County, this ongoing issue is multilayered – often thanks to the booming tourism economy that draws both huge crowds of visitors and a large seasonal workforce that further raises the demand for rentals.
Since the pandemic, the housing challenges have only become more complicated as people build new homes and stay in temporary rentals during construction or purchase second homes that they visit intermittently or rent out weekly.
Meanwhile, the prices of homes throughout Sussex County keep going up, and the county’s workforce – the teachers, hospital staff, restaurant workers, law enforcement officers and more – cannot afford to live in their own communities.
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Because of these many factors that contribute to the housing issues in lower Delaware, the solutions also likely need to be comprehensive. Many of the county’s biggest employers, from Beebe Healthcare to Cape Henlopen School District to those in the hospitality industry, are urging for action now. And the urgency has only risen as labor shortages persist and many workers feel burned out since the pandemic.
“It’s so important to try and make sure that we meet the needs of our workforce,” said Dr. David Tam, CEO of Beebe Healthcare. “They’ve been stressed to the limit in the last two years, and the last thing they need is to start worrying about where they’re going to live and have a good quality of life.”
Here are some initiatives that Sussex County has recently launched or proposed, as well as other innovative solutions that community leaders have suggested for supporting their local workforce.
How the county plans to help
While the national housing issue is often framed as a supply and demand problem – a recent report showed a shortage of more than 5 million houses in the U.S. – that isn’t quite the case in Sussex County.
Here, developers have been building so many homes that they were outpacing the estimated number of homes needed to match population growth, according to a housing report published by the county in 2019. Since then, the housing boom has only continued to take off with more than 4,000 building permits approved in 2020 alone.
Brandy Bennett Nauman, director of the county’s Community Development and Housing Department, said this is partly why Sussex County has such a unique housing challenge, and why now is the perfect time to push more benefits for developers who build affordable housing.
“It’s kind of bizarre here in Sussex that we just have seen this unprecedented level of development and housing construction,” she said. “If we can take advantage of that while the development boom is still happening, I think it would be a tragedy if we did not capitalize on that.”
Since these projects are already being proposed, she said, the idea is to incentivize developers to include affordable units in those plans.
Right now, if a developer wants to participate in the Sussex County Rental program, they can benefit from an expedited planning and zoning review process, as well as density incentives.
That means the developer can build more units per acre than is typically allowed by the zoning code in exchange for offering a certain percentage of affordable units. That increase in density is designed to make up for the loss of rental revenue, Nauman said.
Understanding that only one project has successfully participated in the rental program since its creation in 2008 – and Coastal Tide Apartments in Lewes took about a decade to come to fruition – the county is now trying to make these programs even more attractive to developers.
The first way is through the Housing Trust Fund, which is primarily funded through American Rescue Plan Act funds. In this recently opened program, developers or other groups like nonprofits can apply for grants up to $50,000 for every affordable housing unit built, either as a rental or owner-occupied housing.
The county set a maximum of $500,000 per project.
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The fund also includes a component for individual homeowners or renters: Eligible applicants can receive loans ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 for the purchase of affordable housing. The loans will be prorated with zero percent interest and forgiven after 10 years of homeownership.
In addition to this Housing Trust Fund, developers may also have more incentives to participate in the Sussex County Rental Program. The Planning and Zoning Commission is expected to discuss opportunities to further expedite the review process for those who offer affordable units.
A chance to jump to the front of the line can make a big difference for developers, Nauman said, especially now when the waiting list for site plan reviews can be as long as nine or 10 months.
Housing in the hands of employers
While many of the county’s employers said they are hopeful that the council is giving more attention to affordable housing, they also know these programs take time. And they need to start thinking of other solutions if they are going to support their current and future employees.
Both Tam at Beebe Healthcare and Josh Grapski, managing partner of La Vida Hospitality, said they are now looking into partnering with developers to establish their own workforce housing.
For years, employers could feel confident that their staff would find a place to live after accepting a job offer. But now managers and human resources directors are finding that they are spending more energy helping employees search for housing – something that was not in their job descriptions.
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Especially in the restaurant industry, Grapski said his company – which includes restaurants like Crooked Hammock and Big Chill Beach Club – has been looking for ways to change the work culture so that more people see this industry as a long-term career option.
Without a safe and affordable place to live though, efforts to invest in young people’s careers or show appreciation for the staff only go so far, he said.
“We’ve got to start fighting that fight or looking into it ourselves at least,” Grapski said. “We’re now the company looking at how do we increase our compensation, how do we improve our benefits, and hey, something like housing could be a benefit that we offer that people enjoy.”
Other large employers like Cape Henlopen School District and Beebe Healthcare are looking for ways to support their current and future staff members who already live in the county.
The school district, for example, has been growing its Spanish immersion program and hiring several teachers in a year. Because these teachers specialize in these immersion programs and are mostly native Spanish speakers, they are often moving to Delaware from another state or country.
Many of these teachers have struggled to find housing, even to the point of hotel-hopping while they continue their search.
To combat this, Ned Gladfelter, supervisor of human resources, said the district is looking to partner with local universities like Delaware State to support young people who already live in the area and want to apply for positions as Spanish immersion teachers.
At Beebe, housing is part of the hospital system’s overall approach to growth, Tam said.
By expanding more of their services with new locations or even advanced telemedicine options, he said, the hospital is hoping to serve more patients, as well as support employees who need more affordable housing.
“We also need to have a situation where, as we move our healthcare facilities and services towards the center and western part of the county, it makes it easier for our own employees to find housing near where they [work] rather than have to commute all the way into a totally different part of the county,” Tam said.
Where to look for more information
Another common frustration with housing is not knowing which resources are available, especially as the county introduces new programs.
Here are some contacts that can set future homeowners or renters in the right direction.
NCALL
Georgetown Office Phone: 302-855-1370
First State Community Action Agency
800-372-2240
Community Development and Housing Department
https://sussexcountyde.gov/community-development-housing
302-855-7777
