Monroe County BOCC Takes Steps to Support More Affordable/Workforce Housing

MARATHON, FL – The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners held a special meeting Tuesday in Marathon to focus on the affordable/workforce housing shortage in the land-limited County.

The BOCC was presented with 33 recommendations established by a 14-member Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) that also included Commissioner Sylvia Murphy and Commissioner Heather Carruthers. The Committee was established by County ordinance in 2015 and met monthly for a year.

The BOCC approved or supported most of the 33 recommendations, which addressed financing, monitoring, illegal rentals, community outreach and the County’s unique dilemma of having limited affordable allocation units to provide to builders under state mandate.

While the BOCC commissioners agreed that trying to “solve” the complex problem would take a concerted community wide effort, Commissioner Carruthers said: “We did make progress today.”

Among the recommendations that the BOCC approved or supported:

  • Amend the definition of workforce housing in the Land Development Code to mean individuals or families who derive at least 70 percent of their income from work done in Monroe County or who are gainfully employed supplying goods and/or services to Monroe County residents and visitors.
  • Continue the inclusionary housing study for non-residential development to supply affordable housing for the employees it needs to operate
  • Direct staff to review legal, financial and legislative issues on the development of a property tax incentive for homeowners who rent a lawfully established existing market rate unit to a member of the workforce within the very low, low and median affordable housing income limits and rental rates.

While many places have problems with affordable housing, Monroe County has the unique challenge of its geography and environment. The state limits growth in Monroe County because the island chain has been designated an Area of Critical State Concern. The County only has 692 affordable allocations remaining. Already in the pipeline are more than 15 projects whose developers have applied for or have indicated they will apply for affordable allocation units.

If all the projects in the pipeline are developed, only 162 affordable allocations would be left, said Mayte Santamaria, Monroe County Director of Planning and Environmental Resources.

“There are no easy solutions,” Santamaria said. “The Board took time today to review, debate and listen to the community on various strategies and incentives. The Board then directed staff to move forward with the ones they think could provide more affordable housing in the Keys.”

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