Affordable Housing Opportunities Exist

by Lisa Loy

When Steve and Michele Albright moved to the Outer Banks several years ago, the young, educated couple from Michigan, after a one year stint in Bermuda where he was a landscape designer, rented a home here in an older neighborhood called Avalon.

Their goal was to live as economically as possible until they could familiarize themselves with the various communities here and figure out where they wanted to live, then buy a home and raise a family.

Although both of them had good jobs, Steve with the Town of Kill Devil Hills and Michele with the Pasquotank Arts Council, they quickly learned that they’d be lucky to find something they could afford. They had moved here during the height of the buying frenzy––a seller’s market. The first baby came, a beautiful girl, and they were still living in the rented house.

But they didn’t give up. Nor did their Realtor Cheryl White who traveled beyond the Outer Banks to the Currituck mainland and as far as Columbia during their extended search. They continued to monitor available properties in the neighborhoods with year ‘round residents, close to schools (Michele is very focused on education) and water access (Steve is an avid sportsman, and a playground (the little Miss Albright is an avid climber). They waited almost four years before the lull in the market delivered a greater supply of listings, and suddenly, there it was, a tired old beach box in need of a face-lift. It was perfect! And it was on the Outer Banks!

Or rather, it was the location that was perfect; the house however could be fixed.

The site in Colington Harbour is lush with vegetation and located on a quiet street. It has a sound view, is within walking distance to the swimming and racquet club, the play ground and soundside beach, there is a marina for Steve’s boat and First Flight schools are just 5 miles away.

With baby number two on the way, Steve and his “can do” attitude worked on it for several months in the evenings after he left his office for the day, transforming the little house into their home sweet home. They bought new carpet and installed new appliances. They painted. They didn’t quite finish sprucing up before their son arrived, but they were close, and they were smiling.

For the Albrights, timing and tenacity paid off, but more help is now available to buyers in search of affordable housing.

In a groundbreaking move, the Manteo Board of Commissioners responded to the wishes of its people by adopting an Inclusionary Affordable Housing Ordinance. One of the first such provisions in the state, it breaks the trend of high housing costs in a resort area by giving developers incentives to participate such as density bonuses and a waiver of building fees.

Already three new developments––Cedar Bay, The Flats and Salt Meadow Landing, are planned that will dedicate a number of homes and home sites for purchase by eligible Manteo residents based on income and employment. These are not low-income projects, these are diverse new communities sought after by families who just want to live in a great neighborhood.

In the Town of Kill Devil Hills, the Community Development Corporation (CDC) located on Mustian Street near the library, is working to bring affordable housing assistance to the area and a new development in Kill Devil Hills, Nature’s Walk, is already under construction. This new development of 20 homes meets the CDC requirement for affordability with a mix of affordable and market rate homes.

In addition to collaborating on affordable developments here, the CDC is also a HUD Approved Counseling Agency. This means they offer homebuyer education programs and advice on loss mitigation, debt management and prepurchase and postpurchase counseling.

Plans are also underway to develop “teacher housing” on Dare County Board of Education land located near First Flight schools. It’s no secret that affordable housing is a key element in the county’s ability to attract more teachers to the area. According to its executive director, Amy Montgomery, the Dare Education Foundation, which has been raising money for our schools for about five years, is eager to apply for a State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation Grant to fund the project. Talks regarding the 9.5-acre site in Kill Devil Hills include partnering with the CDC for a proposed 55-unit townhouse development with one-bedroom units priced as low as $120,000 and four bedroom units up to $225,000. Some of the units would be available to rent.

This would be a welcome development in a county where the percentage of residents that can afford a median-priced home since the year 2000 dropped from 41 percent, or 6100 year ‘round residents, to only 4 percent, or 547 residents, by the year 2005. Although we can expect a certain reversal of this trend, due to the flood of listed properties by sellers who are now willing to negotiate in this arena of intense competition for sales.

With greater environmental awareness, urban sprawl on a national level is also beginning to experience an about-face. The new preference to live closer to work in smaller homes is considered a proactive way to use less energy and less fuel commuting to work––less being more in terms of the common good. Anthony Flint, a futurist and journalist from the Lincoln Land Institute, cited the need for compact, mixed-use developments recently at a breakfast co-sponsored by the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce and the CRC.

“Regional land use planning is the way we’ve got to do business and we must approach together the issues of affordable housing, sustainability and economic growth,” he stated.

Flint urged redevelopment through “recycling” land and older buildings and recommended that housing, transportation and the environmental agencies work together to achieve this objective. Certainly the plans for “teacher housing” is a great example of different groups working together for the common good.

But on a personal level, there are other reasons that some Outer Bankers pull up stakes and move to the mainland that have proven to be more than thrifty. Although the general attitude is “people can’t afford to live here anymore,” there are a growing number of beach people attracted to this landlubber’s paradise. The prices are significantly lower of course, but other benefits include privacy with abundant land in wide open places, historic homes in charming towns like Columbia and Belhaven, a world-class equestrian center in Martin County, and abundant hunting, fishing and water sports on the other side of the sound. There’s room to breathe out there for many Outer Bankers who have prospered after working hard for decades; they love their weekend get-aways in the country.

Another twist in the general mindset on affordable housing is, in a word, modular. Modular homes are built in sections in a factory then transported to the home site and assembled. In this industry’s early years, these homes were a no-frills bargain, often with no down payment required, that enabled many first-time homebuyers a chance to realize the American dream.

Manufactured homes have come a long way and today, over 22 million people live in them across America. One of the area’s most well-known and admired contractors, Stan White, owns such a home on Ocracoke Island.

Stan’s award-winning company could build anything he and his family could want, but the builder found that the logistics in getting one of his construction crews down there to raise a stick-built home was cost prohibitive, and he wanted a retreat, not another rental, so economy was a goal. He mostly wanted to go fishing, and soon. He looked into the possibility of a manufactured home for his “fishing camp” and found that the quality of materials used at the factory had improved dramatically and final completion could be accomplished in a matter of weeks.Whether you’re a first-time or budget-minded buyer in need of some guidance, the prospects are improving all the time. Contact a local Realtor or the CDC to help you strategize, locate, and learn about the variety of affordable possibilities. It’s your market, and it’s time to go shopping.