Key West homeless shelter financing hits snag

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

A lack of progress at the state level allowing Monroe County Land Authority funds to be used to pay for the proposed new Key West homeless shelter was a popular topic at the recent Florida Keys Day in Tallahassee.

 

After hearing that state Rep. Holly Raschein, R-Key Largo, hasn’t been able to find a bill to attach her proposed legislation to, Mayor Craig Cates wrote a letter urging her to continue her efforts to introduce a bill in this year’s legislative session. At the request of county and city authorities, Raschein’s bill would allow the Monroe County Land Authority to use its funds to build affordable housing. Currently, the Authority’s directive only allows it to purchase land for those types of projects, not construct them.

 

And Key West City Commissioner Tony Yaniz also buttonholed Raschein at the March 31 Florida Keys Day in the state capitol, asking what the next steps were going to be since she has not been able to find a promising current bill to attach her legislation to. So far, the bills Raschein has attempted to piggyback on have either died or stalled.

 

“Holly said she may attach her bill to another,” Yaniz said of his conversation with her on March 31. “She’s going to try to attach it to another bill. She will try to attach it to a current bill.”

 

Key West officials are counting on Raschein and her colleagues to approve a change in language in the county Land Authority’s mission statement, allowing it to expand how it spends the money it collects from a half-cent bed tax placed on Key West hotel, B&Bs and transient rental guests for every dollar they spend. The language change would let the Authority, which is currently sitting on over $9 million, to use that money to construct, redevelop and preserve affordable housing in the county, instead of using the money only to purchase land for those types of projects.

 

Key West officials want to raise the estimated $1 million to build a new overnight homeless shelter on Stock Island – a move required when the city lost a legal battle with the owners of Sunset Marina, where the current shelter is located – by selling the former Easter Seals building, 5224 College Road, to the Land Authority. The Authority would then either offer the city a long-term lease or give the property back to the city outright, and the city would use part of the money from the sale to build the new homeless shelter.

 

At least that is the idea, which is drawing opposition from different corners, including Key West developer Ed Swift, who wrote his own letter to Raschein, saying the proposed language modification would completely change the responsibilities of Land Authority members.

 

“The make-up of the Land Authority Board would need to be changed so that they can evaluate proposed construction projects, not land purchases,” Swift wrote in his letter.

 

But that argument was rebutted by Mayor Cates in his response to Raschein. Cates said the proposed mission change would give the Authority more flexibility to achieve its mission.

 

“Including construction and redevelopment capabilities should not affect the composition of the land authority advisory committee as the current members have experience and familiarity with housing development. In particular, the advisory committee has a member who developed at least 50 units of affordable housing in the City of Key West in 2010. And another who is a real estate broker with broad experience in affordable housing,” Cates wrote to Raschein.

 

Key West City Manager Jim Scholl said that he is proceeding with the planning for the new homeless shelter at the Easter Seals site, despite the delay in financing.

 

“We’re going to continue to move forward with the planning. If we can’t use Land Authority money, we’ll look for opportunities for [other] funding, see what’s out there. There may be community block grants,” he said.

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