Boynton Beach Workforce Housing Plan Raises Eyebrows, Hopes
It’s a story shared by thousands of prospective home buyers across Palm Beach County: finding an affordable place to own and live in.
In Boynton Beach alone, the numbers are staggering.
An assessment by Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center projected the city could have a shortage of 10,800 work force homes by 2025, if measures to spur building of affordable homes aren’t created.
On Tuesday, commissioners will consider giving final approval to a work force housing ordinance that would require a developer requesting higher densities to create housing that serves mostly essential, middle-class workers such as teachers and police officers who can’t afford Florida mortgages at market rates.
“There’s a need everywhere for workforce housing,” said Mayor Jerry Taylor. “The city’s being pretty proactive.”
Under the proposal, a buyer’s household income cannot exceed 120 percent of the median household income set for Palm Beach County. For a family of four, that would be $77,280.
Gerone Powell, interim executive director of the Boynton Beach Faith Based Community Development Corp., works daily with would-be home buyers who ask for Florida home mortgage help.
“In the past month, I’ve had four police officers from the city of Boynton and one from the Sheriff’s (Office) inquiring about down payment help,” he said. “Two years ago, that was unheard of.”
Developers would be required to set aside 10-20 percent of their projects for workforce housing, which could not look any different from market-rate homes. Three-quarters of those units would be available for moderate-income buyers and a quarter would be for low-income buyers.
To ensure affordability, each would have a 30-year restrictive covenant preventing the buyer from flipping the property and profiting from its market value.
However, in the case of luxury developments with a majority of home sale prices of $500,000 or more, the developer might have the option to pay into a trust. The required payment would range from $80,000-120,000 in lieu of each affordable housing unit.
While the prospect of offering more affordable Florida home loan payments to residents is good, those optional payments are too high, said Christopher Roog, director of governmental affairs for The Gold Coast Builders Association.
The group also would like to see impact fees waived for work force homes and is concerned that the costs of the market-rate homes would rise as they subsidize the workforce housing.
Even though the ordinance is voluntary - developers would be subject to it only if they ask to build at higher densities - the high costs of land force developers to build more units to make projects viable, said Vice Mayor Jose Rodriguez.
“I guarantee nobody’s going to build at those (current) density levels,” he said. “I think the ordinance is perfect for the times we’re in.”
SOURCE: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
