| Increase
affordable units in housing ratio
Here's how the
conversation should go when Mayor [Mario] Di Gennaro asks Gov.
Bush for 3,500 new permits:
Mayor: "Gov.
Bush, we need 3,500 additional housing units in the Keys, for
affordable housing. I want to move dirt."
Governor: "OK,
you got it, Mr. Mayor. Thirty-five hundred units is about 15
years' growth at the allowable rate. All the reasons to keep
growth slow in the Keys still exist and aren't likely to go
away. But if you drastically increase the ratio of affordable to
market-rate [construction], or permit only affordable housing
for a while, you could have up to 3,500 more affordable units
over the next 15 years. Continue as you are, and only about a
thousand affordable units will be built over the next 15 years.
The choice is yours."
Until Monroe
County's commissioners greatly increase the ratio of affordable
to market-rate for new construction, they're unlikely to
convince anyone that they're serious about affordable housing.
Dennis
Henize,
Cudjoe Key |
