Housing Forum Draws A Crowd But No Solid Answers

By Pru Sowers

Konk Life Staff Writer

A concerned and, in some cases, angry crowd of over 100 people jammed a housing forum Feb. 23 to brainstorm ideas to solve the housing crisis in Key West.

While many previously-heard solutions were brought up by members of the panel, which included representatives from the city, county and business sector, there were some new ideas. The panel also focused on how city and Monroe County officials could work together to move what many consider a housing crisis from discussion to actual action.

But there were no definitive steps by the end of the forum that the officials agreed to take together. And Robin Smith-Martin, chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, which organized the forum, struggled to find consensus on basic questions such as how many units of affordable and workforce housing the county, in particular Key West, actually needs. The numbers ranged from 600 to 6,500. Smith-Martin also tried to get the dozen panelists, who included Key West City Commissioners Sam Kaufman, Margaret Romero and Jimmy Weekley; Monroe County School Board member Bobby Highsmith; and Ed Swift, one of the owners of Historic Tours of America (HTA), to agree on where the next affordable housing development should be located. Answers ranged from Poinciana Plaza to Stock Island to the Truman Waterfront.

But one area of agreement was that more money needs to be invested in building affordable and workforce housing, particularly for median income level residents who make $61,200 a year for a single person and $93,200 for a married couple. Swift, a large employer through his Conch Train and Old Town Trolley Tours businesses in Key West, suggested adding a penny to the current five percent bed tax, raising, he said, $8 million a year that would be split between the county and Key West and used for housing subsidies to developers. Swift himself is a workforce housing developer in the Florida Keys.

“Sooner rather than later we’re not going to be able to serve our tourists,” he said.

But a few audience members said it was up to local employers to provide any housing subsidy, not taxpayers and tourists. Martha K. Huggins, a retired university professor, drew applause when she said HTA, Fausto’s grocery stores and other labor-intensive businesses should give their employees a raise.

“I would like to see the employers pay more money to your employees and set up a pool [of money] you can use to subsidize the rental apartments. Bring your laborers’ ability to pay rent up to that 30 percent level,” she said, referring to U.S. guidelines that no more than 30 percent of a person’s income should be spent on housing costs.

But the HTA head said he is currently completing construction of 96 homes on Stock Island for workers that has taken 10 years to finish because of government regulations that make it difficult and expensive for developers to build homes aimed at low and moderate-income residents. Local urban planner Owen Trepanier, who formerly worked in the Key West Planning Department, agreed, saying city and county building regulations were “killing” developers. He suggested that Key West and Monroe County waive building permit and impact fees for affordable housing construction.

“Government has to get in line,” Swift agreed. “Government has to get out of the way.”

That idea has already gained traction in the Key West Planning Department. Thaddeus Cohen, city Planning Director, said his staff will be recommending changes to the city’s building and planning regulations that will encourage developers to invest in affordable housing development, including allowing affordable residential units to be built above commercial space, increasing height and density limits, reducing parking requirements for developers and investigating the feasibility of “micro units,” 400 square feet apartments.

“It’s across the board,” Cohen said about the people who are being forced out of Key West by stratospherically-high home prices and the dearth of year-round rental units. “It’s the bartender, the teacher, the physician who can’t afford to live here.”

Surprisingly, the question of whether to purchase Peary Court as a way to maintain the moderate income, 157-unit housing development on White Street – which voters will decide on March 15 – received only a passing discussion at the end of the meeting. The audience was more interested in the larger issue of housing in Monroe County.

“There is no solution to this,” Smith-Martin said about what is becoming an overwhelming issue in the Florida Keys. “But we can manage this.”

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