An Early Head Start program in the works in Myrtle Beach for more than a year isn't going to happen after all.
Timing of the two grants needed to launch the program in the city's Canal-Nance neighborhood didn't line up, so the city plans to build three affordable housing units there instead, disappointing some neighborhood residents who say the kids really need the Early Head Start program.
"We need a child development center," said Rose Deason, who has lived on Dennison Avenue her entire life. "There isn't any option for the younger kids. Kids need somewhere to go. A Head Start would have been a good thing for those kids."
The plan fell apart after the two partners in the project, the city and the Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Council, had grant money to spend - just not at the same time. The city received $200,000 from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program administered through the state, but couldn't get the paperwork approved in time to meet a deadline the Waccamaw EOC faced. The EOC had to move ahead and funded a Head Start program in another area, Assistant City Manager John Pedersen said. Officials at the Waccamaw EOC, which operates the Head Start centers in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, could not be reached this week.
Now, the city, facing its own deadline, can't wait on another potential EOC grant to come through, Pedersen said.
The city was going to use its Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant to build the building for the Early Head Start program, Pedersen said, and the EOC was going to run it.
"We were all disappointed," he said. "We were at that point where we were in a use it or lose it situation. We really can't bank on a grant that might not even materialize."
So on to Plan B - the three affordable housing units. The city plans to use the $200,000, paired with about $50,000 in Community Development Block Grants, to build two 1,100-square-foot houses off Canal Street near Dennison Avenue and renovate an existing structure into a house, Pedersen said.
The city plans to rent the houses - criteria for who could rent them hasn't been set yet - with the revenue going into a new Community Land Trust, which would bank the money to buy more land in the neighborhood for more affordable housing, Pedersen said.
The S.C. State Housing Finance and Development Authority, which gave the Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant to the city, must sign off on the new housing plan before the city can move forward. The city plans to submit the revised paperwork by Wednesday and has already alerted the state agency of the proposed change, Pedersen. If approved, the city aims to start construction in January.
It's unusual for recipients to change how they plan to use grant money, S.C. Housing agency spokesman Clayton Ingram said, adding that he couldn't say this week whether the shift is likely to be approved.
"We really won't know until we get the final plan," he said. "This would be one of the first ones I know of that would be shifted in this way. Hopefully it is something we can accommodate."
Building affordable housing was one of the main goals in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Ingram said. Along the Grand Strand, average prices for houses and condominiums have plummeted in the past three years as the real estate market collapsed, but that hasn't erased the need for even more less-expensive houses, Ingram said.
The median price for a single-family home along the Grand Strand was $171,750 in October, according to the Multiple Listing Service. That's still too high for many workers in hospitality, transportation, the service industry and even nurses, Ingram said.
"Even though housing prices have fallen, they are still relatively high for a lot of people," he said. "There is always a need for this."
But some residents and members of the Canal-Nance Steering Committee aren't as excited about the housing as they were the Head Start center.
"Things don't always work out the way you want them to," said Frank Burgess, a committee member. "So you move on."
Though the Early Head Start program is off the table, Myrtle Beach officials still want to make it happen in Canal-Nance eventually. Myrtle Beach doesn't have an Early Head Start center, Pedersen said.
"We are still hopeful that it will still open down the road," he said. "The need is still there."
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