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Residents ask county to consider housing incentives to recruit police, teachers and paramedics
Summary
Residents urged Douglas County to explore incentives and housing options for public servants to improve recruitment and neighborhood stability; county administration said salary adjustments were made but no executed housing‑incentive program currently exists due to budget constraints.
Vanessa Livingston, a resident of District 3, asked whether the county was "seriously looking at incentives to bring in, possibly housing" for police, paramedics and teachers to help recruit and stabilize the workforce. She suggested using vacant homes or tax tools to provide housing opportunities for public servants.
Dr. Corbin responded that the county adjusted salaries after COVID and that the sheriff's office pay is competitive in the metro area, but that concrete housing‑incentive programs had been discussed in the past and not executed because of fiscal constraints. "We broached the subject, several years ago... and we just have not been able to figure out economically how to make that work at this point," he said. Commissioner Kenner Jones added that the board recently approved some workforce housing in the city that will offer reduced rent for a limited number of units, calling that a "band aid" rather than a long‑term solution and recommending creation of a county development authority to craft durable programs.
