Palm Beach County Grapples With Housing Affordability Problems, Proposals

Despite the slowdown in the South Florida housing market, a shortage of affordable homes and rental apartments exists and much greater measures should be taken to close that gap, Palm Beach County commissioners said Tuesday.

One idea, according to the Palm Beach Post story on the meeting, could be buying some of the area’s sugar land and building on it, as Commissioner Burt Aaronson suggested.

He was rebutted by Commissioner Karen Marcus, however, who predicted lawsuits would inevitably follow a controversial decision such as that.

Regardless, Palm Beach County should move more quickly to preserve existing affordable housing and tap a variety of funding sources to increase housing stock, others suggested.

A study commissioned by PBC showed a massive (and growing) shortage of up to 93,300 homes through 2020 for households now earning up to $93,150, or 150 percent of the county’s existing median income.

The county is short nearly 30,000 homes and rental units through 2010.

Those numbers are similar to a study commissioned by the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County last year, which painted a stark picture of how most county residents are being priced out of buying homes.

And while there is a softer housing market, the county study, presented by Robert Gray of Jacksonville-based Strategic Planning Group, Inc., noted that Florida mortgage costs are still sky-high, and only a trickle of affordably-priced homes are coming on the market, while few existing affordable homes are being resold.

Rising property taxes and insurance, along with transportation costs and energy prices, are all adversely affecting prospective home buyers.

All of which led to numerous suggestions from county commissioners, such as Aaronson’s sugar land idea, which he said could (at least in part) ease the expensive housing costs of the area by being set aside for a large number of homes, as well as building modular homes.

“We haven’t explored some of the things that can make a major dent,” he said.

Aaronson also supported building 4,000 homes at county-owned Mecca Farms, with half in the affordable price range of $164,000-304,000.

Marcus said older, reasonably priced homes exist, though those looking to purchase a home for the first time may have to lower their expectations.

“You can buy an older home on a bigger lot with the potential to fix it up over 5-10 years,” she said.

Throughout 2006, county commissioners approved some measures that required local home builders and developers to provide homes in the $164,000-304,000 range and offered density bonuses in exchange.

Design and traffic standards were loosened to make room for the homes. The Gold Coast Builders Association has long said it will take more to solve the housing problem than putting the onus on developers.

Still, Joshua Fowler, executive vice president of the association, was encouraged with the commission’s discussion on housing affordability Tuesday.

“We strongly support the county’s efforts to add some options to the workforce housing dilemma,” Fowler said.

Soaring land prices have created another problem, even as Florida home mortgage rates have remained relatively stable, Commissioner Jess Santamaria said.

Commissioner Jeff Koons added that the county should make it a priority to fund the county’s new community land trust and start buying land or existing affordable developments.

“Bluntly, people can’t afford to live or work here anymore,” Koons said.