Housing

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

There is no quick fix when it comes to building new affordable housing in Key West.

But Hurricane Irma and a recent influx of state and federal money aimed at creating affordable workforce housing have lit a new fire under Key West officials, who are holding a housing workshop on Jan. 11, 5 pm, in the city commission chambers at City Hall. The goal is to bring city commissioners up to speed on new sources of funding, where new housing might be built in the city and put the two together. The public will also have a chance to weigh in on the issues at the meeting.

“The time is right, now with the state lending money,” said Key West Mayor Craig Cates. “Let’s strike while the iron is hot while everyone wants to help out.”

With Hurricane Irma destroying or heavily damaging approximately 3,000 properties in Monroe County, the impact on the workforce is being felt throughout the Florida Keys. Estimates vary but it seems that around 10 percent of the working population have left, unable to find either housing or jobs to support themselves and their families. But that has opened new sources of funding that might be able to be directed towards affordable housing developments.

The problem, as always in the Keys, is the lack of undeveloped land. But there are pockets, as shown by a list of 52 potential land parcels owned either by Key West, the Monroe County School Board or the Key West Housing Authority that was given to city commissions at a recent meeting. The list of city-owned property alone could produce an estimated 216 units of workforce housing, according to Patrick Wright, city planning director. But the problem is how to convince private developers to take on the project. Wright said new financial incentives must be created to give developers the profit margin they need. One possibility is to include a density bonus in Key West’s land development regulations, meaning if a developer agreed to include a specific number of affordable units in a housing project, he or she would be allowed to build more units.

“I would recommend we move forward on that immediately,” Wright told commissioners.

Mayor Cates, looking at the 52- parcel list of potential housing locations, said that city officials need to change their thinking about how to tackle the problem. In the past, officials have leaned towards building large housing projects. But with land so scarce, smaller developments may be a way to start reducing the critical need for affordable housing in the region.

“Some won’t work,” Cates said of the 52-parcel list. “But some are properties where a couple of units could be put in. We need to look at that instead of just big projects.”

City Manager Jim Scholl said several organizations have been invited to the Jan. 11 housing workshop, including the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the state Department of Economic Opportunity and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which all provide housing funds. And other ways to incentivize developers will be discussed, he said. For example, changing the city’s zoning laws to allow residential units to be built over commercial properties and increasing density and height limits to boost the number of units built per acre are among the options to free up space for housing, Scholl said.

“If we can get to the point where we have locations available, funding is now available,” he said.

The public is invited to the Jan. 11 city commission workshop, which will be held at 5 pm in City Hall, 1300 White St.

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