This week’s Delaware Real Estate Summit examined the First State’s housing market, including the need for more affordable housing.
One panel features planners from each county and a state official discussing plans to address a lack of affordable housing.
Director of Kent County Planning Sarah Kiefer said Kent is looking at where its regulations halt progress. She said the goal is lower barriers to building more affordable units in central Delaware.
“To get affordable housing, we need to build more,” Kiefer said. “I think everybody in the room knows that if you're building more, the market will provide. Right now, the market is not in equilibrium, and we need to enable it to get there.”
Sussex County Planning and Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse said there are many out there who support increased housing development as long as it’s high quality, part of the so-called YIMBY movement.
But, he added, there is still a strong NIMBY element – people opposed to further development where they live.
“A lot of it is just human outreach, working with customers, customer service, customer engagement,” Whitehouse said. “And these NIMBYs can be turned into YIMBYs.”
New Castle County’s Land Use General Manager Charuni Patibanda said it takes a lot of political courage to do the work and advocate for people.
“To say ‘not in my backyard,’ you have to have a backyard,” Patibanda said. “And the people that don't have the backyard are the ones we're fighting for, and they work three jobs and don't have enough time to come to county council and Zoom in.”
The panelists agree the path forward is to build more and aim for equilibrium in the housing market.
