Lee Country Affordable Housing Runs into Trouble

The NBC2 Investigators have discovered that developers are paying off the county so they don’t have to build affordable housing.

And it’s all legal.

The Lee County housing market has a program in place that allows developers to put money in the Affordable Housing Authority Trust Fund instead of actually building affordable housing. The money helps the overall problem eventually, but it slows the process of putting cheaper homes on the market.

The Florida condos above Coconut Point are the perfect example. The developer was supposed to make 150 of the units available as affordable housing, but it never happened.

“Coconut Point chose to contribute to the affordable housing problem in Lee County by contributing $600,000 to the Lee County Affordable Housing Authority Trust Fund,” said Gloria Saigo, Lee County Community Development.

That breaks down to just $4,000 a unit. The Investigators asked the county if that is a fair trade.

“At that time it was used as a fair and reasonable solution to the problem,” said Saigo.

But this isn’t the only deal the county made.

The Gulf Coast Town Center paid $350,000 to the fund several years ago. In the end, it helped put 40 affordable units on the market for teachers that needed a Florida home mortgage loan.

“We layered that money with other funds so we could participate with Bonita Bay in the Homes for Teachers Program,” said Saigo.

Despite the successes, the county admits affordable housing isn’t coming online fast enough for the people who need it. With Florida mortgage rates on the rise, steps must be taken to ensure that individuals can qualify for various loans.

Officials are working with a consultant to change the system so they have a better way to handle affordable housing agreements. Right now, each major development negotiates with the county to determine the amount of its contribution to the fund.

The consultant is supposed to present a new way to handle affordable housing to the county on March 28th.