Housing allocations should not serve as developers' windfall
Developers must have
been jumping for joy over the news that the Department of Community
Affairs might allow the 3,500 affordable homes to be built in the
Florida Keys.
The housing is
desperately needed, and government officials with the county and the
cities have been clamoring for some relief from DCA's controls over how
much new construction occurs each year. Most years, DCA, which oversees
development in the Keys as part of the area's designation as an Area of
Critical State Concern, allocates fewer than 200 building allocations,
so the prospect of thousands got some attention.
People with vacant
land have learned over the years that the fastest way to get something
built is to construct it under "affordable" guidelines, although even
then there are many obstacles to overcome. The smart developer has
learned to barter affordable homes for the ability to construct
higher-priced houses elsewhere.
In announcing the
possible infusion of building allocations over the next two years, DCA
Secretary Thaddeus Cohen cautioned that Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet
must approve the measure amidst political pressure to reject it.
But Cohen said he will
recommend approval based on county's efforts to install sewers
throughout the Keys to meet a 2010 state mandate to eliminate illegal
wastewater systems. He also said the new homes must not clog roadways
during an evacuation for a hurricane or other disaster.
There's no question
that more affordable housing is needed in the
Florida Keys.
Studies by the
University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing have
consistently placed the Keys' affordable housing shortage in the
thousands, with the most recent at 6,500.
But that is no reason
to open the floodgates to development. Steady thought must go into the
planning of new homes, with an emphasis on preserving what already has
been built.
Key West Mayor Morgan
McPherson said he needs 1,350 building allocations for his "Big Idea,"
to construct affordable housing on 50 acres of land owned by the city
and Monroe County School District. County Administrator Tom Willi tossed
out 300 allocations for a start, while businessman Ed Swift, developer
of several affordable housing projects in
Key West
and the county, proposed a split among the different areas in the Keys.
The state has
penalized the county in the past for failing to preserve environmentally
sensitive land and eliminate septic systems that allow sewage to flow
into our nearshore waters. A year ago, after months of negotiations, the
governor and Cabinet reinstated some building allocations withheld
because of the county's neglect, with an understanding that the progress
must continue.
A more moderate
approach to rewarding such progress is the prudent step to take at this
point. A good compromise would be to survey which projects, like
McPherson's, are really ready to move forward, and make the allocations
accordingly. This is not the time for developers to place a hold on
allocations.
The affordable housing
is needed to keep middle-income workers in the Keys, but allowing
construction of 3,500 new homes in the Keys over a two-year period is
overkill that could impede residents' ability to get out of the Keys
quickly and burden the infrastructure.
— The Citizen |
