MANTEO, N.C. — It’s no secret that there is a housing crisis in the Outer Banks, especially for the workforce here.
“The price of housing in this community is astronomical," said Michelle Lewis, pastor at Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church.
Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church (RIPC) has been a part of the Outer Banks for more than 30 years. Over the last year, their mission has been exploring how they can be a resource to provide a form of housing on the piece of land they own right next door.
“We have this land, we have... this house, and we thought, how could we transition that into something helpful to the community?" David Guiley, clerk of session at RIPC, said.
Church members participated in a program at the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School, and during that time, it became clear what their mission is.
“We looked around and saw the property, and as members of our team went to local meetings, [we] said 'You know, we really do have a housing problem here in this community.' And if we truly want to work to meet the need, one of the needs is the lack of workforce housing that's here in the community," said Lewis.
The hope is that they can develop the property next door to potentially build 12 units to house local workforce members. The church got a boost in those efforts recently through the Focus Grant at the Outer Banks Community Foundation for $50,000.
"What the grant now enables us to do is work with some professionals, engineers, architects, to see just exactly what shape this is going to end up looking like at the end of the day. Really, the Community Foundation support helps us get to the next step," said Guiley.
The church hopes this can inspire other faith-based organizations and nonprofits in the Outer Banks to do the same thing and also potentially partner to continue addressing this issue.
"We're hoping and believing that we'll inspire other communities of faith and other nonprofits to join together in their communities to do the work, and in our community to do the work. Because it's possible, we believe in possibilities here," said Lewis.
"I hope we are successful for two reasons. One is that we provide housing for folks, and the other is to show others how. Because 12 units is great, but it's not going to meet the larger needs of the community," said Guiley.
Though this development isn’t going to pop up overnight, the church's next step is to put together a development plan by the start of 2026.
"It's about living our faith and creating housing in a community where housing is so desperately needed, is a way for us to live our faith," said Lewis.
