Richland County proposes plan to help county employees buy homes [Video]

The county would use funding from accommodation tax revenues for home down payments in the hope it will help keep employees in the area.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Richland County Council hopes to make housing more affordable for county employees.

If approved, a new down payment assistance program would benefit everyone from adminstration staff and public safety employees to EMS responders and teachers.

Research economist Joseph Von Nessen from the Darla Moore School of Business at USC said programs like these are just one way to address the state’s housing crisis.

“Housing affordability is certainly a major challenge in South Carolina and across the country right now. And it is something that has been emerging over the past decade because of an imbalance between supply and demand,” Von Nessen said.

According to Von Nessen, in the last 12 months, South Carolina has experienced the number one population growth rate in the country.

He said that growth, combined with a decade of underbuilding, has led …