2023 Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference Looks at Workforce Housing in Sussex County

The theme for the 2023 Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference, held Oct. 26 at Delaware Technical Community College’s Owens Campus in Georgetown, was “Workforce Housing: Addressing the Crisis, Identifying Solutions, and Implementing Strategies.”

Dr. Bobbi Barends, vice president and campus director at the Owens Campus, welcomed attendees and stressed throughout the event that this was an issue that was going to take collaboration and resources from everyone in the county.

The conference was a hybrid event, with in-person seating and a livestream option for attendees. The keynote speaker was

The Honorable Jacob Day, secretary of Maryland Housing and Community Development. Day’s presentation focused on how his department has been tackling the housing issue, recognizing that it is an affordable housing issue for different population groups, and an issue that arose due to a variety of historical issues. Day also touched on some of the plans his department has coming up in the near future to work on alleviating this issue.

Sean O’Neill, policy scientist at the University of Delaware, Institute for Public Administration, started the event by helping to put the workforce housing issue into context for all attendees.

The event had two panel discussions moderated by Kevin Gilmore, chief executive officer of Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. The first focused on the economic and industry impact of workforce housing. Panelists included Ashley Foster, senior vice president and chief people officer for Beebe Healthcare; Nicholas Lano, patrolman first class and recruitment officer for the Bethany Beach Police Department; Mike Dickinson, president of SoDel Concepts; Trina Joyner, broker/associate broker at Coldwell Banker Premier; Dr. Kevin Carson, superintendent of Sussex Technical High School; Bill Pfaff, director of Sussex County Economic Development; and Preston Schell, co-founder and president of Ocean Atlantic Companies.

The second panel discussion focused on practices and solutions and featured Brandy Nauman, director of the Sussex County Community Development and Housing Department; Lillian Harrison, founder and executive director of Elevated Community Development Corp.; Matthew Kraeuter, chief executive officer of Great Outdoor Cottages; and O’Neill.

Mike Nally, founder and chief executive officer of Nally Ventures, provided two additional sessions focused on solutions and developing a blueprint, which allowed attendees to work together at their tables to come up with how to tackle the housing issue and what steps could be implemented in the future.

This year’s conference was sponsored by the Carl M. Freeman Companies, Sussex Economic Development Action Committee, Delaware Electric Cooperative, Sussex County Association of Realtors, County Bank, Lyons Companies, Artisans’ Bank, TidalHealth, Mountaire, Community Bank, WSFS Bank, Del-One, and Jefferson, Urian, Doane & Sterner, P.A.

For more information, visit the Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference website.

PHOTOS: The theme of the 2023 Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference was Workforce Housing: Addressing the Crisis, Identifying Solutions, and Implementing Strategies. The Honorable Jacob Day, secretary of Maryland Housing and Community Development, was the keynote speaker.

One of the event’s two panel discussions focused on practices and solutions for the housing crisis and was moderated by Kevin Gilmore, chief executive officer of Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. Panelists were, from left, Sean O’Neill, policy scientist at the University of Delaware, Institute for Public Administration; Brandy Nauman, director of the Sussex County Community Development and Housing Department; Lillian Harrison, founder and executive director of Elevated Community Development Corp.; and Matthew Kraeuter, chief executive officer of Great Outdoor Cottages.