Polk County Housing Summit Planned

The first Polk County Workforce Housing Summit is right around the corner, according to the Lakeland Ledger.Last week, the summit’s planning committee announced that its speakers are committed and discussion is ready to begin. The summit will be held from 8- noon Thursday on the PCC/USF campus.

“The speakers we have are just outstanding,” said Scott Coulombe, co-chair of the committee and director of the Polk County Builders Association. “All of this is going to focus on the Polk County housing market. Our problem.”

Speakers for the event, which will focus on the county’s growing lack of Florida mortgage affordability and potential solutions to that problem, include Jeff Bagwell, director for the Keystone Challenge Fund in Lakeland and co-chair of the committee; Pat Steed, director of the Central Florida Regional Planning Council; Elba Cherry, Polk’s director of neighborhood services; and Tamara Sakagawa, a CRA coordinator with Lakeland.

Also included are every city and chamber of commerce in the county, as well as private businesses, builders and the public.

“This has to be a countywide effort,” Coulombe said.

The group’s mission: To tackle Polk County’s lack of affordable housing.

The 15-member committee has met several times in recent months to discuss the issue of Polk County home prices and the problems that they pose for the work force.

The committee consists of officials from cities and the county, Lakeland Vision, Polk Vision, private businesses and home builders.

Since skyrocketing during the building boom’s peak in 2005, Florida home prices have become unaffordable for many Polk professionals, including teachers, police officers and firefighters.

While these professionals, considered the most essential of the county’s workers, aren’t in low paying positions, salary increases have failed to keep pace with the inflated market.

The median sale price of a new home in Polk County was about $170,000 in 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

A buyer would need $20,000 down, a minimum annual income of $43,559 and no more than $254 in monthly debt to be considered for a Florida home loan, according to statistics provided by Keystone Challenge Fund in Lakeland.

Keystone provides assistance for first-time home-buyers and neighborhood renewal by building affordable new homes around the county.

SOURCE: Lakeland Ledger