Georgetown and Scott County consultants say housing shortfall, homelessness rising; recommend land bank, capacity building and shelter expansion

Georgetown and Scott County officials heard a final housing needs assessment that found strong future population and job growth, rising housing demand and a persistent shortage of units affordable to the lowest‑income households, consultants told a joint session on Oct. 25, 2025.

The assessment projects “very strong population growth into the future” and says the county will need new homeownership and senior units while also addressing rental shortages for younger, lower‑paid workers, Summer Pan, senior project manager for consultant RKG, told the council and fiscal court. “The city and county must create organizational capacity to facilitate housing expansion,” she said.

Why it matters: consultants and city staff warned that without a public strategy to increase supply and preserve existing affordable housing, the market will continue to produce higher‑value units and squeeze out lower‑income renters and owners. The report and staff comments focused on building capacity, preserving aging housing, creating “missing middle” housing (duplexes, triplexes, townhomes), monitoring short‑term rentals and pursuing public–private financing tools to spur mixed‑income development.

Key findings and scale of the shortage

Summer Pan summarized survey and housing‑market data the consultants collected: about 1,800 community survey responses, roughly 117 employer survey responses and employer feedback that recruitment and retention are already affected by a lack of affordable housing. The assessment estimates a current shortfall of roughly 600 ownership units and about 800 rental units for households earning at or below 50% of area median income (AMI). Because of projected growth, the county could add another approximately 560 owner households and 250 renter households at or below 50% AMI by 2030, the report said.

Pan noted that the county’s housing stock is dominated by single‑family homes, vacancy rates are low and new construction trends toward larger, higher‑priced homes and higher‑value rental and ownership segments. “If there is no…