City of Myrtle Beach planning for workforce housing opportunities

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Myrtle Beach officials are working to create more affordable housing options across the city.

On Tuesday, the Workforce Housing Advisory Board will meet to discuss income guidelines, housing strategies and next steps for bringing more affordable housing to the Grand Strand.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition says across South Carolina, there’s a shortage of rental homes that are affordable and available to extremely low income households. They say those incomes are at or below the poverty guideline, or 30% of their area median income. Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing.

Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said there’s a need for workforce housing in the area.

“We do not have downtown living options, urban-type living, and we don’t have a lot of apartments in city limits," Bethune said. "So really, doing an analysis of what are the right areas to have workforce housing, what are the types of housing that we need to offer, and bringing the right partners to the table to work with us.”

Amber Campbell, a research and development analyst, said they’re planning for the every day person and checking out areas across the Palmetto State to compare, like Greenville, Charleston and Columbia.

Right now, they don’t have a specific location in Myrtle Beach, but Campbell said they want to have plans ready for developers to come in and look.

The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach City Hall.

Copyright 2020 WMBF. All rights reserved.