A panel discussion sponsored by the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce highlighted the ongoing need for new housing units.
Called the Real Estate Reality Check, it featured experts in real estate, insurance, and mortgages. Although designed to help homeowners understand what to expect in the coming year, the presentation began with a slide directly connecting housing to workforce development.
“It’s a total partnership,” Andrea Bowles, Sales Manager and Relocation Director with Blanchard and Calhoun, told ABD. “In order to attract vibrant businesses, successful businesses, you’ve got to have housing. In order to attract community and families, you’ve got to have housing. So, they walk alongside each other. When one’s successful, the other one is too.”
Bowles and the other experts said the current level of housing needed versus housing availability in the Aiken County and Richmond County region shows some improvement, but there remains a substantial gap.
That falls in line with a regional housing study by the SRS Community Reuse Organization (SRSCRO).
Released in October 2025, it studied housing availability across eight counties: Richmond, Columbia, McDuffie, and Burke counties in Georgia, and Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, and Edgefield counties. It compared that to projected housing needs over the next five years to keep up with hiring for new jobs.
The study projected 16,256 new jobs by 2030. To meet the demand, the region will need to add more than 17,350 new housing units. That’s an increase of 43% housing development needed annually.
Bowles said even if that need is met, it is just a solution for now.
“You’ve got a family of the mom and the dad, and then you’ve got three kids. One family, five people,” she explained. “What happens very quickly is those three children go through college or high school, wherever they’re going to decide they’re going to start working and move out. Now that one household formation became four. They’re either going to rent, or they’re going to buy.”
When the SRSCRO report was released, Robbie Bennett, President and CEO, said it was simply a framework.
“Let’s find a way to let each community, be it city or the county, let them cherry pick what makes sense to their community, so that they can keep their community unique in the way that the leadership wants, but still addressing the regional demand.”
Barriers common in all eight counties were identified, including infrastructure limitations and shortfalls in water and sewer capacity. Another obstacle to develop new housing is regulatory challenges, such as zoning codes restricting what types of housing can be built where.
Bowles said reexamining zoning, even spot zoning, remains a viable solution to beefing up the new housing inventory.
“I love the fact that Riverside Village has done some with apartments above and commercial below,” she said. “When you’ve got a lot of stuff downtown, even that’s been out of business for years, to retrofit some of this stuff. We’ve got to get out of that traditional mindset and either build or refurbish and rehab things where people want to come and be there.”
Bowles said one of her concerns is potential first-time homebuyers sitting on the sidelines.
“We want the consumers to understand that there is a huge cost of waiting, not only from a wealth management perspective, but people who sit on the sidelines for 10 or 15 years, waiting for the market to come back to a 3% interest rate environment,” she said.
Blanchard and Calhoun is holding a workshop to help individuals considering homebuying to build or repair their credit. It will be Saturday (TOMORROW) at 1030 W Lake Commons Dr., Suite 1, from 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Learn more at www.facebook.com/events/1649261749561087/permalink/1649261756227753
The full SRSCRO report is available for download at www.srscro.org/housingstudy
