“Dormitory” workforce housing pushed by Key West officials
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Continuing their recent efforts to take concrete steps towards building affordable housing in Key West, city commissioners voted unanimously March 3 to explore the feasibility of building dormitory-style apartments in the building currently housing the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District office on Stock Island.
The city-owned building, which the Mosquito Control District already has plans to vacate, is located on College Road next to the new site of the city’s homeless shelter. Commissioners directed City Manager Jim Scholl to explore the feasibility of creating much needed affordable housing in the existing building next to where the proposed shelter would be placed.
The proposal is a new direction for commissioners, who previously looked at building larger affordable units for Key West workers. Downsizing to dormitory-style, single room occupancy apartments might allow the city to build more affordable residences than the limited number of new building permits would currently allow.
“We don’t need 1,500 or 1,700-square foot units. We need a lot more 500-square-foot units or something of that nature,” said Commissioner Teri Johnston.
Before the vote, however, the idea took some heat from former mayoral candidate Margaret Romaro, who said when she first read the proposed resolution, she thought it was a joke.
“Who are you going to get to manage it? Who is going to police it? What kind of house rules will there be,” she asked, adding, “It seems some of you are throwing things up on the wall to see what will stick.”
Current city commission candidate Sam Kaufman also had reservations, saying a proposed workforce housing development at Poinciana Plaza made more sense to focus on.
“[We] appreciate new ideas. But I think the question should be does this resolution dilute efforts to build affordable housing,” he said.
Mayor Craig Cates, who sponsored the resolution, disagreed that building smaller housing units was impractical. He pointed out that up to ten times more single room occupancy units could be built using the available building permits and that some families work different shifts, so one person could be sleeping in the unit while the other was at their job.
“I think we’re not throwing stuff against the wall. What I’m asking the commission is to think a little outside of the box,” Cates said.
“We need to look at every opportunity we have to build affordable workforce housing,” agreed Commissioner Jimmy Weekley.
Commissioner Billy Wardlow was concerned, however, even though he ultimately voted for the resolution. He said city officials should speak with the Key West Housing Authority before exploring the feasibility of converting the Mosquito Control building into small workforce apartments. And he was concerned that with the new homeless shelter being built next to the building, it could be used to house the homeless, instead of providing housing for local workers.
“I don’t like the idea of dormitory housing. I don’t know who would live in it. I think it’s a smokescreen for the homeless shelter,” he said.
That led Commissioner Tony Yaniz to offer an amendment to the resolution stating that the small apartments would be offered only to workers.
“We need to be clear on this. We need to put in there that if we create dormitories, they’re for people who go to work in the morning and make a paycheck,” Yaniz said.
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I’ve owned my home for fourteen years and in the last five years, I’ve seen a big change in rentals. Single month rentals. Five homes in the 800 block of Terry Ln are used in this manor. The worst part is, these people have figure out a way to “pretend” that they are renting for a month but in reality, it’s short term rentals. I found out that Monroe County considers three months as transient, while Key West considers one month as transient. I’ve sent multiple requests to Clayton Lopez asking how the definition of transient can be changed but have gotten no replies. (Other neighbors have tried too.) I’d like to see the City match that definition of three months as transient. I miss the days when I had neighbors and not strangers on our little street. If this is happening here, I’m sure it’s a problem on the rest of the island. The workforce need nice affordable housing in the neighborhoods where they work. How do we get this changes? HELP!