The Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments is hosting a regional housing summit on Thursday, Sept. 11 to provide information about tacking challenges and working to resolve some of the barriers that exist in the realm of housing.
Desiree Brooks, Kerr-Tar’s Community & Economic Development manager, said the summit will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Vance-Granville Community College’s Civic Center and will conclude at 1 p.m. In addition to featured speakers offering a national and a regional perspective, the event includes a panel discussion and a work session to allow individuals to focus in on challenges specific to their counties.
“We’re really excited to launch this regional housing summit – it’s the very first time we’ve had the summit,” Brooks said on Wednesday’s segment of TownTalk. The event is free to attend, but registration is required.
“We recognize that every county has unique housing challenges,” Brooks said, but it’s important to start talking about housing because it is a crucial issue in economic development.
“We want to start talking about it so we can start working toward solutions.”
Keynote speaker is Chris Allen, the director of Events and Partnerships with Strong Towns, a national nonprofit media organization. Allen will bring a national perspective on the issue and will get down to the root causes of the housing crisis and identify some rational responses that communities can take to improve the situation, Brooks said.
Tyler Mulligan, a public law and government professor at the UNC School of Government will talk about his work helping local government in areas of economic development, affordable housing, public/private partnerships for development and revitalization efforts, she said.
Brooks said she’d love to see county and city managers, elected officials, housing advocates, community leaders at the summit, as well as developers, financial institution representatives – anyone with an interest in helping make a tough situation better.
“We recognize that there’s an issue and we look at what those top challenges are in economic development,” Brooks said. “Housing is huge – that is a huge issue in our region – and everywhere really.”
The summit is one way Kerr-Tar COG can gather stakeholders to have conversations, identify needs and work on solutions.
“We hope that everybody leaves motivated, and with tools that they feel like, ‘OK, we’re working toward solutions,” Brooks said.
“I know we can’t fix it, but we have to start somewhere.”
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