Myrtle Beach mayor to SC lawmakers: We need more affordable housing. Help us build it.

Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune wants state lawmakers to continue to aid the fight to build more affordable housing in the area where real estate prices continue to soar.

She’s asking the General Assembly to reject an annual cap on tax credits for such housing, a move she believes will slow investment in cities like hers.

“If you have driven around the Grand Strand, you’ve seen the enormous growth taking place here,” she said this week.

“Horry County is in fact in the top 10 fastest-growing counties in the entire country,” Bethune told The Sun News. “With this sudden influx of people, the demand for housing in our area has gone through the roof.”

Efforts to limit the state’s distribution of tax credits for affordable housing projects to $15 million a year has high-powered support in Columbia. That support includes House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Murrell Smith, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler and Senate President Thomas Alexander.

The legislators have introduced bills in each chamber that would establish the cap, following a January decision by the state Fiscal Accountability Authority to halt the current system on July 31.

Improving Myrtle Beach’s stock of workforce and affordable housing is a top priority as leaders look for ways to diversify the city’s economy.

In February, Habitat for Humanity of Horry County unveiled findings of a housing affordability study, concluding Myrtle Beach should support construction of at least 567 new housing units a year — 250 rental properties and 317 homes at various price points.

For someone working in the hotel and food services field who earns an average of $20,667 a year, an affordable rental unit would be around $517 a month.

If such a person wanted to buy a home, he or she could afford one priced at $144,669.

As of February, the median price for a single-family home in the region was $339,000, according to the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors, a 23% year-over-year jump.

Bethune said any steps that narrow the housing pipeline would have long-term consequences for the city.

“As everyone comes to visit our beaches and pack our restaurants, our workforce is crowded out,” she said. “The increased load on our housing market makes prices soar for our busy months, but our workers bear the brunt of this lack of choice and our employers lose revenue because of the lack of workers,” she said.

Karen Riordan, head of the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, said the organization supports any incentives that allow more affordable housing in the region.

“Affordable housing is crucial for recruiting talent and filling current job openings, which allows our businesses to grow and our communities to become stronger,” she said.

“Without more, the Myrtle Beach area’s economy and our quality of life will be hampered.”

In 2020, South Carolina enacted a law that gave developers tax breaks of either 4% for rehabilitating existing housing or 9% for new construction.

That move ramped up the available pool of money from $2 million in its first year to $20 million by the 2029-30 fiscal year.

The problem is those estimates were off by billions.

Without a tax credit ceiling, economists said the state could be on the hook for $5.1 billion worth of liabilities to developers by 2029-30.

“One of the problems we’ve had is there really hasn’t been a debate,” state treasurer Curtis Loftis said at a Fiscal Accountability Authority meeting in December. “The General Assembly was rolled on this, but there’s only been one vision here - it’s the vision of apartment complexes,”

“The developer flies in here from Portland, from Seattle, from San Francisco, from Wall Street. The richest, whitest people on the planet come here to take their multi-million dollar checks back home,” he said.

Smith, a Sumter Republican who leads the House’s powerful budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said continued investment in affordable housing projects is needed. But so is more oversight by state officials.

“There is a debate to be had about how much South Carolina wants to invest in affordable housing, and it’s something that we need to invest in,” Smith said in late December. “In any legislation moving forward, there’s going to have to be an analysis and ranking because we cannot afford to give out $5 billion over this.”

Bethune said the economic benefit of affordable housing investment speaks for itself, with every dollar invested through tax credits returning $5.

“That’s a better return than almost anywhere else our state can choose to use your tax dollars. We need this investment in South Carolina, but particularly here in Myrtle Beach,” Bethune said.

“As our legislators in Columbia consider a bill of such importance, I hope they’ll remember who it’s about: Our veterans, our seniors, our workers and our children.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 9:45 AM.