ashe

Krazy you and the chamber forget that Boone is a college town with over 20K students that rent and dont complain, and like fins said there is nothing wrong with commuting to work which is something you dont know a thing about either.

Krazy, having to cross county lines to find a house doesn't make them homeless. Not one of them has been living in their car, or a tent. Or a pop up camper.

Sure you are an expert on everything.

You have no clue about the housing market and neither does Randy Jackson and announcer for App.

Watauga County Housing Forum Shifts to Affordability

April 14, 2022

Posted By:�David Jackson�Chamber News

Conversation turned toward affordability during the latest session of the�Watauga Housing Forums. The community-led work session was held Monday night at the Watauga County Community Recreation Center in front of 140 in-person participants and over 70-virtual attendees.

Lead organizer�Kellie Reed-Ashcraft�moderated a panel discussion that featured (L to R)�Sara Crouch, Director of Community Programs / Outreach Coordinator, OASIS, Inc.,�Amy Crabbe, Chief Operating Officer, Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, and�Dr.�Chris Blanton, Principal, Watauga High School. Each discussed challenges associated with affordable housing and the impacts on the communities they serve.

Crabbe shared 40% of the ARHS total workforce of 1,500 employees lives outside the system's service area. "Cost of living scares off potential applicants," she said, and further discussed efforts the system uses to provide temporary housing, often in the form of hotel rooms, to house transitioning staff that are seeking a place to live. During periods of COVID-19 surge, the system even provided vacant hospital rooms for both temporary and permanent staff who worked extended shifts and needed rest before driving to homes outside of the area.

Crabbe said affordability impacts all levels of the ARHS workforce, which stands as the second-largest employer in Watauga County. From maintenance staff to nurses and doctors, the inability to fill vacant jobs has a direct impact on services provided.

Blanton discussed similar recruitment challenges faced by Watauga County Schools, the county's third-largest employer. Salaries for beginning teachers are set by the North Carolina Legislature, meaning they can leverage the standard salary they receive against the cost of living in districts across the State. "People want to come here and teach our kids, but can't afford to do it, and seek a professional setting in terms of living conditions, not necessarily the same setting they had in college."

Blanton added that salary support from the Watauga County Board of Commissioners allows the system to provide a more diverse array of courses at all grade levels, and access and availability to those offerings is often cited as a positive attribute parents reference when choosing to enroll children in the district. "We look at this from the ability to hire employees, but we also must consider the affordability for families that seek us out that want to send their kids here," Blanton said. "If we are not careful, the lack of affordable housing could do real damage to the school system."

Crouch addressed the continuing need for emergency housing stock, and how both affordability and accessibility limit the response time and options service agencies seek when addressing the needs of clients. Of the 400 clients OASIS serves each year, over 120 need emergency housing assistance as they leave abusive relationships. "The issues we have heard tonight are not uncommon," Crouch said. "Housing costs have been allowed to increase without any accountability. Community leaders need to take ownership of this situation and can't look toward just the non-profit sector to make the type of changes that are needed."

The audience viewed a video produced by the Community Voices sub-committee, featuring Watauga County residents with impactful stories about their experiences with the affordability of housing. Among other topics, the video highlighted the financial burden families face when seeking to rent a full apartment or house, as many of these units are rented by the room at costs that far exceed normal amounts based on square footage. The video also included stories from those that were forced from their current housing due to emergency circumstances and struggled to find affordable relocation options.

Small groups convened for an hour-long facilitated discussion that focused on themes, shared data points, and patterns that emerged among affordability issues. The notes taken from these discussions will be analyzed by a group of students at Appalachian State and combined with feedback from the previous session to inform policy and advocacy suggestions that will come in the final.

Dinner was provided free of charge to attendees thanks to�Stick Boy Kitchen�and the contributions of over a dozen community supporters and event sponsors.

The final forum in this series takes place�Monday, April 25th,�from 5:30-8:30pm�at the Watauga County Recreation Center, and will focus on solutions to the challenges discussed, and the creation of a Community Action Plan. The session is free to the public, though registration is required to ensure space and food is available. More�details and registration links are available here.

The affordability conversation was the most energized and powerful yet in terms of creating community definitions and awareness around key elements of the housing crisis. The impacts discussed touch a variety of constituents, including low-income families, students, low-wage workers, relocating professionals, dual-spouse working families, employees that businesses seek to retain, elderly residents, multi-generational county residents, and everything in between.

When talking about the process of making change in all aspects of the housing conversation, Crouch shared, "We in this room are a great start, but we are not the end." That statement helps set up the expectation for the closing session of the housing forum series, which focuses on solutions and planning. Data collected from the three previous sessions will be shared and will serve as some of the initial seeds of a community action plan that will be aimed at addressing issues and highlighting opportunities over the coming years.

Conversations moving forward must include representatives from as many of the diverse housing sectors we have in our community. The housing crisis is not about any one group or type of use. Lack of forward-thinking on these issues will put increasing strain on the housing availability in the area, and also the services the area that must be supported by a locally-rooted workforce.

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce looks forward to seeing the seeds of the Community Action Plan behind this work planted and will remain engaged in all aspects of this vital conversation for the years to come.

David Jackson

President/CEO

Boone Area Chamber of Commerce

�

WALTON JOINS CHAMBER STAFF AS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETINGApril 25, 2022

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And here is another. This is what Watauga is doing and what is Ashe County doing?? Pushing their problems on other counties.

Now would you like to tell me again how rosy things are in the housing market??

High Country Housingrisis � Watauga County Housing Forums

by�Ben Massey�|�Jun 16, 2022


The housing crisis in this country and in the High Country has reached epic proportions. Shockingly, in the High Country housing is a barrier for professionally employed individuals as well as individuals who qualify for low-income housing.
Anyone seeking an apartment for less than $2000/month or to purchase a home for less than $400,000 will find few options available. There just are very few houses or apartments to buy or rent. This crisis pervades all areas of our district from the most rural areas of Alleghany County to the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone. If you are looking to purchase a home with a million-dollar price tag, you are likely to be spoiled for choice. Otherwise, you may need to consider looking over the border in Tennessee or north into Virginia.
We struggle to recruit teachers, health care workers, farmworkers, skilled service workers, and other essential members of our workforce desperately needed in the High Country because, even if employed, there is no place within a reasonable commute for them to live.
Why?

Krazy you dont have a magic ball nor do you know the housing market sitting on your carcass in a camper on gum ridge. People that dont pay rent and are being evicted are on social media all the time. Get jobs and go to work.

Fins several weeks ago teachers were begging for housing and having to go to Caldwell or Avery. It must be nice living in la la land and denying what is happening. Some in Ashe have been looking for housing for 5 years they can afford and I am mental and delusinal??? You two are like having a battle of wits with unarmed people. I wish this world was a rosy as you two claim.

Yes, it figured that was assumed

And that would be including you Krazy as mentally disturbed. And yes you are a vagrant and a mooch off of us tax payers. I'm tired of paying you dead beats way.

There are no homeless teachers in Watauga. I've yet to see a homeless person that wasn't mentally impaired.

Dog who is complainin??, My living situation is much better than it was. I have heat, food, warm blankets and family. What else should I NEED???? Now it may take a while to get it where I want it and how I want it but I can deal with it. Now if how I survived for 10 years helps someone else understand how to survive so much the better. You are the one using words like vagrant, squatter etc to try to dehumanize me. If I thought for one minute Chendo had actually been in my records every medical office I had been to would be under investigation. What he does NOT KNOW tells me he is full of crap

krazy you are the one that needs some electro shock treatments. I will get Chendo to look and see in your medical records if it was recommended for you.

Fins not every homeless person is mentally ill or on drugs. If you and dog had your way all the homeless would be locked in a cell and given electroshock treatment until they CONFORM to what you and dog want. But let me ask you this did you miss the memo that some teachers in Watauga are homeless and cannot find housing??? Some are from ASU. I may feel sorry for you but I will not see anyone treated less than human. **** I can feel sorry for the Heafners because they are greedy fools for throwing what their father gave them away. But even if I feel sorry for someone does not mean I will turn my back and allow them to put another knife in my back. Did you even stop to think that by my living as I do, a family with little children might have a place to stay warm. Or an elderly person without family that0wants one might get a rental apartment???

Dog perhaps you need to be in an institution. Now I was not the one here complaining. If you don't want to be around the homeless hide under your bed, stay home and have what you need delivered. When I worked at Kmart we had a lot of homeless from behind that store shop with us. They were treated by my daughteq and I the same as any other person. I did not care if they were black, white or green. Is that what is killing yov that I am not paying rent to make someone like you richer?? Or is it because I tell it like it is without the sugar coating. Or is it because I have compassion for other than the monied?? I even feel sorry for those like you who are so **** arrogant as to believe it can't and won't happen to you! It can and it might, no one is immune.

Krazy, you are not the same as me. I don't need mental health treatment. Homeless people don't need to be handed houses. They need treatment for mental illness

May be, but he cannot live both places at the same time. All he has done here lately is complain about the cost of Fords and our quaint town also. If he don't like it, he can keep on grocery shopping at Aldi instead of Ingles since he likes them so dam much better.

Cooper has been on this site for years spit.

Coop, why you acting like you know anything about Ashe when you spend all day ever day knowing everything on the GoWilkes site?