Affordable Housing One of Florida’s Most Critical Challenges, Advocacy Group Says

The Institute for Community Housing will hold seminars in Orlando to help local governments find affordable housing solutions, officials from the newly-formed group officials announced.

The inability of teachers, firefighters, police officers, tourism workers, civil servants and other wage earners to find “workforce housing” within their means is one of the state’s biggest challenges, Florida League of Cities president Rene Flowers said at a news conference.

As a result, the league is teaming up with the Department of Community Affairs, Florida Housing Finance Corp. and Florida Housing Coalition to bring local officials, developers and housing market experts together at the eight seminars beginning October 13 and ending August 15, 2007.

“There’s not a silver bullet out there. What we’ve got is… a lot of moving parts,” said Housing Finance Corp. director Steve Auger.

The seminars are designed to help local officials decide what parts might be most useful. That includes increasing density, changing zoning uses and improving transportation, according to Community Affairs Secretary Thaddeus Cohen.

Factors such as hurricanes and the subsequent jump in insurance rates, increasing construction and material prices, and higher property values with corresponding tax increases have caused home prices to soar much faster than wage growth.

A Florida family with a median income could afford a home priced at about $135,000 last year, while the median price in the state has ballooned to nearly $235,000, according to the Florida Housing Coalition, a non-profit organization of housing advocates.

Even rental prices have been climbing beyond the means of many Floridians. One reason for that is fewer apartments are on the rental market because they are being converted to condos amid an investor frenzy. Another factor is higher property taxes, as landlords do not qualify for homestead exemptions.

The increase in impact fees on new homes and a reliance on real estate taxes also contribute to the cost of owning a home in Florida, which lacks an income tax and exempts most services from sales tax. Not to mention the fact that for cash-strapped residents, their Florida home mortgage payments are high as it is.

“I think we need to take a look at all of those prospective areas before we make a definitive choice as it relates to any additional taxing issues,” Flowers said.