KITTY HAWK, N.C. — Anyone who is lucky enough to call the Outer Banks home knows it's a gift to live here. But for the average person, that means going from rental to rental, with homeownership out of reach.
Seth Gill, known to most as "Jelly," has lived in the Outer Banks since 2016, and with it has come a number of living spaces.
"It was really hard to find places. I was on Facebook, everywhere," said Gill.
Watch related coverage: Report outlines progress, steps forward to addressing housing in the Outer Banks
Not only has Jelly had to move around, but as a teacher and someone with a full-time job, the prospect of homeownership is on his mind.
“It can be very overwhelming to think about not being able to afford a house in a place that I really love," said Gill.
At the most recent Dare County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners were shocked by the challenges the average person faces in renting or becoming a homeowner. This information was presented by the Dare County Housing Task Force in their annual report published in December.
“If you lived in Colington and you were paying that $517,000, your household income would have to be $171,000," said Donna Creef, chair of the task force.
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Creef shared a slide that made the commissioners pause to let everyone in the room take a look. It showed that the current median sale price for houses across the Outer Banks means someone would need to make at least $171,000 to afford it. The median household income for people across the Outer Banks indicates that most would not even be able to afford the lowest current listing.
It's something that realtors are seeing on a daily basis as well.
“More people are wanting to be here, and that's driving prices up as well because you have a low inventory. That's an issue when you have so many people that want to be here," said Cherry Brandi Adams, a real estate agent with Keller Williams.
Watch related coverage: A Dare County task force is taking a look at housing challenges in the Outer Banks
A message from Dare County leaders is that to get more people on board, they need to make them aware that this is an issue.
“I'm still troubled with the fact that the community is not on board, and we've got to sell this to the people in the community that we’ve got to help out, somehow, some way," said Bob Woodard, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
But even with these challenges, there's hope that one day it will get better.
“One really inspiring thing I've come to know about the Outer Banks is that they do take care of the people that take care of them. I think that gives me hope, and I just keep putting money in the piggy bank," said Gill.
You can see the report in its entirety by clicking this link.
