Monroe County's Workforce Housing Task Force appears to be seriously overstepping its bounds and wasting taxpayer funds on matters outside its purview.

According to accounts of a recent meeting, the task force has delved into issues over which it should have no influence: the Tier System and hurricane evacuation.

The Tier System has nothing whatever to do with the number of permits issued. It was intended to be an improvement on the old point system for ranking vacant land for development. Until it was weakened in its final form, it would have been an improvement, to the benefit of property owners as well as the environment. Neither the Tier System nor the legal challenge brought by environmental groups has any bearing on how many permits are allocated. For the Workforce Housing Task Force to concern itself with the Tier System suggests that somebody has some environmentally sensitive land they want to develop.

Hurricane evacuation is a critical public safety matter. Hurricane evacuation policy should in no way be shaped by a need for additional housing, regardless how strong the stated need. Hurricane evacuation is not a subject the Workforce Housing Task Force should take up. Any dilution of the safety margin is wrong, and for the stated purpose of increased development, it is unconscionable. For evacuation policy to be influenced by the Housing Task Force is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. And this dog (hurricanes) bites.

I also must point out that the 7,317 affordable units the task force says we "need" represents total misuse of statistics. That is the number of households in the Keys which are, according to a study, housing "cost-burdened" (i.e., they pay more than 30 percent of monthly income on housing). Sure, we'd all love to live more cheaply. But those 7,317 households are here, and they are paying over 30 percent of monthly income for housing — many of them apparently willingly. In no way does the number of "cost-burdened" households translate to a number of additional units needed. With "affordable" being in the neighborhood of up to $300,000, I dare say many would be even more "cost-burdened" in one of the new units. More smoke and mirrors from the task force.

Dennis Henize

Cudjoe Key