Dare County commissioners voted 6–1 on Monday to approve $400,000 in startup funding over the next two years for a new nonprofit that will serve as the lead agency for local housing efforts, marking a major milestone for the county’s Community Housing Task Force.
The vote followed a detailed presentation from task force chair Donna Creef, who outlined plans to form the Dare Housing Foundation, a nonprofit that would be legally incorporated in North Carolina and recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization.
The foundation will replace the current volunteer task force and be empowered to seek grants, accept donations, and partner with both public and private entities to create housing solutions for the local workforce.
“The nonprofit is a legally recognized organization under the state of North Carolina,” Creef said. “It can do business. The task force is a paper tiger — it’s not even a paper tiger, it’s a paper kitten, if you will. We’re a non-entity.”
“Once we’re organized as that nonprofit, we can secure grants, talk to private corporations, and undertake fundraising,” Creef said. “It’s a tangible organization, whereas the task force is just a group of very dedicated individuals sitting around the table trying to solve an issue.”
Creef told the board the new foundation’s articles of incorporation are nearly complete and that an attorney with “extensive experience in housing nonprofits” has been hired using grant money secured through the UNC School of Government’s Our State, Our Homes program.
Dare County’s task force is one of just 14 groups statewide selected for that initiative.
Under the approved plan, the Dare Housing Foundation will have a 13-member board composed of representatives from each town, the county, and the Board of Education, along with several private-sector members. Board members will serve two-year terms and will not receive compensation.
Creef said the group is requesting $200,000 annually for two years from Dare County’s existing housing funds to cover legal, professional, and administrative costs and to establish office space.
“We need to move from organizing to functioning,” she said. “All of the successful housing programs in North Carolina involve a nonprofit as the fundamental organization that leads the housing work.”Housing Task Force Presentation…
Commissioners discussed potential county-owned sites for small-scale housing developments, including the 467-acre Link Road property near Stumpy Point, which Creef noted could become viable if federal land nearby were combined with it.
The board also debated whether the initial focus on teacher and government employee housing should expand to include private-sector workers.
Commissioner Carson Creef suggested exploring a land-grant model where eligible applicants could receive lots to build their own homes.
“You could build a whole new community over there with all different looking houses,” he said, while emphasizing that residents “need more opportunities” and that the effort should empower individuals to invest in their own housing.
Other commissioners voiced support for the plan as a pragmatic next step.
Commissioner Mary Ellon Ballance, who represents Hatteras Island, praised the focus on smaller, community-based developments.
“I like the direction that it’s going in, as far as having a unit that can raise money and apply for grants,” Ballance said. “It’s something we have to look at in a different way.”
Commissioner Rob Ross, the lone dissenting vote, said he supported the concept but wanted the county’s six incorporated towns to contribute equally to the startup funding.
“I want to be an enthusiastic yes,” Ross said. “But I’d like to see a 50–50 partnership between the towns and the county, so we all have shared skin in the game.”
Donna Creef noted that Dare County already has funding set aside to address housing, while the towns would have to go through their budget processes to make an appropriation.
Ross countered that Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and Manteo would each be looking at spending $16,000 per year to split the costs.
Commission Chair Bob Woodard said he expects the towns will eventually participate financially.
“The best opportunity for establishing essential and workforce housing in Dare County is through this nonprofit,” Woodard said. “I still believe that the towns need skin in the game, and we’ll ask them to come to the table.”
The board also appointed County Manager Bobby Outten and Commissioner Ballance as Dare County’s representatives to the new foundation’s board.
Donna Creef said the organization’s paperwork will be filed with the state by the end of October and that the foundation could begin pursuing grants and project partnerships by early 2026.
“This is not something we take lightly,” she told commissioners. “If we’re going to continue to do this, it needs to be more than a task force. It needs to be something serious.”
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