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County officials seek cities’ support for housing ordinance
By LESTER R. DAILEY
| Article published on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 |
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CLEARWATER – Pinellas County is both a tourist destination and the most densely populated of Florida’s 67 counties. Consequently, real estate prices are so high that many of the people who work in the Pinellas hospitality industry can’t afford to live in the county.
“The loss of affordable rental units and mobile home communities, along with the increasing costs of rental and single-family homes, limits affordable housing opportunities for our workforce, those who perform vital services and maintain the quality of life that makes our community so desirable,” said a brief supplied to the Clearwater City Council in conjunction with an address by County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan at its June 5 meeting.
The solution in the past was for Pinellas hotel and restaurant workers to live in nearby counties, notably Pasco and Manatee, and commute to work. But skyrocketing fuel prices in recent months have made commuting prohibitively expensive.
“Affordable housing is probably one of the top two issues that face us,” Duncan told the Clearwater officials. “We need to work together to ensure that we have affordable housing stock for our people.”
Duncan said that the county is considering an inclusionary “housing ordinance” to address the problem, and is seeking the cities’ input in drafting the ordinance, instead of seeking their approval after the ordinance has been drafted.
“I feel like I’m preaching to the choir on this issue,” Duncan told the council members.
The proposed county ordinance, from which any of the county’s 24 municipalities could opt out, would require new developments of 20 or more units to set aside a certain percentage of their units for affordable housing, which could be smaller and less fancy than full-price units. In return, the developer would get a density award bonus of up to 50 percent.
Duncan said that it is no longer just the poor who need assistance with their housing expenses, and the proposed county ordinance is targeted at people earning between 60 and 150 percent of the area median income. In today’s dollars, that would be between $26,100 and $67,800 per year for a two-person household.
“We need to ensure that, long term, this affordable housing stock remains affordable,” Duncan said, adding that some type of deed restrictions would be needed to enforce the affordable housing provisions for 30 years and prevent buyers from “flipping” the units for a quick profit.
Duncan recognized that some properties, such as small parcels or expensive beachfront developments, would be incompatible with the inclusionary housing provisions. But the county has proposed three alternatives for the developers of such properties. They can build the affordable housing units at another location, donate land to the county’s land trust or pay a fee in lieu of building the inclusionary units.
But building the housing units only solves part of the problem.
“Affordable housing does not work without good transit and transportation,” Duncan said
Clearwater officials seemed to like what Duncan had to say.
“I appreciate the way the process is unfolding,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said.
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Article published on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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