Broward County to Address Affordable Housing Crisis
Affordability. It’s the number-one concern of those seeking a Florida home loan. With that in mind, officials in Broward County are working on solutions to deal with their affordable housing crisis.
The Broward Housing Partnership has released a study that deems it unlikely the county’s economic growth alone will offset the higher cost of homes. Fortunaltely, this report also unveiled plans to boost affordability.
What to do about lowering the cost of Florida home loans
In the study, prepared by the Florida International University Metropolitan Center, the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit laid out current problems in the real estate market, using the metric that considers housing costs a burden when they top 30 percent of a household’s income:
- Broward County saw 6 percent growth in per capita income during the last three years, but during just the last two years, home prices have jumped 65 percent.
- The median housing price-to-income ratio tripled during the three-year boom period, outpacing other high-priced metropolitan markets. “This means the majority of individuals and most two-income families in Broward County are priced out of the market,” the Broward Housing Partnership explained.
- 22 of Broward County’s 30 municipalities have affordability gaps of more than $100,000 between the median sales price of a single-family home and the family median income needed to purchase a home.
Finding affordable housing solutions
“The study is the first step in finding solutions to this crisis, which affects the lives of every person and family, and is having a significant impact on the operation of all Broward businesses and our county’s overall economic growth,” Broward Housing Partnership President James Carras said.
To address the affordability gap the study shows, Carras said the Partnership will capitalize and operate a family of funds for affordable housing, review and make recommendations on housing proposals seeking local support, identify land suitable for housing development, review and make recommendations on local zoning and land use regulations to further promote affordable home loans.
To try to create affordable multi-family rental housing through loans and grants to developers and to help first-time homebuyers with zero-interest loans, Carras said Broward Housing Partnership will run a Housing Trust Fund capitalized by corporate and community investors.
The partnership will also create a Community Land Trust to seek opportunities to use vacant land for infill development or to convert old buildings to new homes.
Carras said the Land Trust will also purchase land for a affordable housing development and coordinate with institutional providers such as local housing authorities, school boards, hospital districts and private sector employers to ensure the long-term affordability of housing.
Many areas of the state are working on plans to make Florida home loans more reasonable. The Jacksonville housing market recently set out to accomplish this goal.
