How to Fix the Citrus County Housing Crunch

The housing affordability situation for low- and moderate-income families in Citrus County has gone from bad to worse, the St. Petersburg Times editorial page laments. And the long-term outlook is no better.

The county’s Housing Services division, which handles state funds designed to help low-income residents get into homes, has run out of money.

The funds are not expected to be replenished until July, which means that the families on the agency’s waiting list can expect to languish for another eight months at least.

The problem is a combination of factors and of state government’s failure to keep pace with both the changes to the real estate market and with the growing need for affordable housing.

As Florida real estate prices have zoomed skyward, the gap between housing costs and what working families can afford to pay has grown dramatically. Lower-income residents are being increasingly squeezed out of the home-ownership market, a situation that has not changed even as real estate prices have cooled in recent months.

The amount of money that the state allocated to Citrus County to help residents bridge that gap has not kept pace with the rising costs. The fund is a mere $1.2-million this year, hardly enough to go around when so-called affordable housing today is in the $150,000 range.

Despite the growing demand in Citrus County and throughout the state for more housing options for working families, the state is not expected to raise the amount it allocates for these housing assistance programs, even as housing prices (and accompanying Florida mortgage costs) continue to remain extraordinarily high.

Other factors are at work to make this situation even more dire.

As the County Commission saw during the recent flareups over the county’s budget, rising assessments on rental properties, which are not protected by the Save Our Homes cap, are squeezing landlords and renters.

Many owners of rental properties told the commissioners and the property appraiser that they may have to sell their properties because they cannot meet the property tax bills. Raising the rents will price low-income people out of even these modest accommodations.

The county is about to embark on a debate over impact fees on residential and commercial real estate. If the commissioners decide to follow a consultant’s recommendation and nearly triple the amount charged on a new home, the ripple effect will be felt mostly by those people on the lower rungs of the housing ladder.

Efforts by a group seeking to build affordable homes outside of Crystal River have run into stiff opposition from people who fear such a project will drag down their own home values. This, despite clear evidence from similar housing projects around the county showing that these fears are unfounded.

There is little that government leaders on the state or county level can do to affect the prices of homes on the Florida housing market, but they can take steps to help their low-income constituents get a foot in the door of decent housing.

County commissioners must give more than a mere nod to the needs of these residents when they take up the impact fee issue. They must support efforts to help groups such as Florida Low Income Housing get their projects built.

They must work with the developers of the numerous housing subdivisions currently in the pipeline to ensure that they help by either setting aside a portion of their project for affordable homes or else donate land or money to affordable housing efforts. Otherwise, making an offer on a house is something most citizens will not be able to even imagine.

In order to make sure working-class people can make the necessary Florida home mortgage payments, the county must also hold the local legislators’ feet to the fire so that our representatives insist funds allocated for affordable housing keep pace not just with the need but with the real costs incurred by home builders.

The affordable housing crisis is a glaring example of the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in Florida and throughout the U.S. Government has a responsibility to do all that it can to bridge this gap for all residents.