KITTY HAWK, N.C. — Housing is something that is on the mind of many full-time workers in the Outer Banks. Specifically, availability and affordability of a place that they can call home year-round.
"I'm very fortunate to live with my mom in our house that we have actually owned for the entire 35 years that we have lived together," said Summer Alker, who was born and raised in the Outer Banks and whom News 3 spoke with during her shift as a server at Hurricane Mo's on Thursday.
Summer lives with her mom in a house that they own, but without it...
"If I didn't live with her, I wouldn't be able to afford a place to live," said Alker.
That's the reality of many year-round workers in the Outer Banks every day. They say affordability is out of reach.
"Affordable housing would help a lot of people that come down here to work. I mean, people that need to work in the restaurants, people that need to work in the industry here to survive, not just in the summer," said Alker.
In late 2023, the Dare County Housing Task Force was created to help address and look at solutions to the housing challenges in the Outer Banks. But the plan has always been to transition to a nonprofit.
Just as members wanted and with the help of $400,000 over two years approved by the Dare County Board of Commissioners in October, the Dare Housing Foundation nonprofit is now up and running.
"We're an independent organization, whereas before, we were just an advisory board of a group of well intentioned individuals," said Donna Creef, with the Dare Housing Foundation.
Creef is a leader with the nonprofit, explaining that being an independent organization now opens up more resources.
"With that tax exempt status, we'll be able to do fundraising, we'll be able to accept donations, and I think the big thing is that we'll be able to go out and solicit grants from other charitable organizations," said Creef.
One focus for 2026 is honing in on public lands for housing identified in the task force's 2024 report and also discussions about how community land trusts could be a resource as well.
"We're going to try to focus on doing a deeper dive on some of the public land that we had identified in the task force report of 2024 and then we're going to really do a deeper dive into community land trust. We've made some contacts with some individuals that operate those, and try to incorporate that into our business model," said Creef.
Though this is a step in the right direction, Creef says housing in the Outer Banks remains a complex issue that won't be solved overnight.
"It's not a short term thing. We got to look at it for the long term. Because we know that housing values are going up, we know that the affordability of everyday life is an issue for the people that live here in Dare County, and so it's important that we take care of our community and address it from a broad base there," said Creef.
Creef also says that outreach and giving a voice to the workforce in the Outer Banks is a priority for the nonprofit.
"They are the foundation for our tourism economy, and so we need to make sure that they are part of our process," said Creef.
The nonprofit is excited to get off and running in 2025, but right now, for locals like Alker, the worries about the future of living here weigh on her mind every day.
"People are leaving the island because they don't have anywhere to live. They can't afford it. I think about my house, like I will have to leave. I won't have an option," said Alker.
There remains quite a bit to do for the Dare Housing Foundation to get established but the 13-member board is ready to get to work in the New Year.
