A TRUE CRISIS

As we continue to discuss relevent issues of the day such as gas prices creeping toward three dollars a gallon and the continuing ethical lapses of our elected officials, there is an equally critical issue that needs to be addressed but is receiving only minor attention: The growing lack of affordable housing.

Yesterday, USA Today paid attention to the issue on it's front page, with a couple of stories about how mobile home park residents are being adversely affected when the land under their communities are purchased for new, more lucrative development such as condos. But the crisis doesn't only affect these folks; another piece notes that families with kids are lagging more when it comes to the ability to purchase a home. (NOTE: The hyperlinks only take you to a preview of the stories; you would have to purchase the full text).

Even in Florida, an increasing number of apartment complexes are being converted into condominium communities in an effort to recoup the investment and make a quicker profit. From National Real Estate Investor:

Nowhere is the conversion craze hotter than in Florida, which is enjoying an influx of young, educated workers and second-home buyers from South America and Europe along with the northern snow birds that routinely flock to the state in winter. Combined, the Miami/Dade, Broward/Palm and Tampa markets in that state represented 30% of the $2.6 billion of apartment acquisitions targeted for conversion between early 2003 and early 2004 in the U.S., according to Real Capital Analytics.

This is bad news for the many thousands of individuals and families that cannot afford or get financing for their own home, many of whom are either elderly or are at the low end of the income scale. msn Real Estate notes that in the fourth quarter of 2005, the average apartment rent nationwide was $940. Fort Lauderdale had among the highest average rents in Florida at $1,104.

Not surprising, five of the nation's tightest apartment markets last year were in Florida, where the condo boom was in full swing. Renters in Ft. Lauderdale say it's virtually impossible to find an apartment in a decent neighborhood unless you're willing to live in converted garage apartment, or pay thousands in rent.

Kim Miller, an interior design assistant who is looking for a one-bedroom in nearby Hollywood. Fla., said, "If you don't have $900 or more a month, it's pointless to even look" in Ft. Lauderdale.

Apartment occupancy in West Palm Beach, Orlando and Miami also came in above 97%, as more apartments were taken off the market in the fourth quarter. With only 400 new units under construction, rents shot up in these areas 12.6%, 7.9% and 6.3% respectively.

According to the Real Estate Journal, the average apartment rent in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area has risen to $779.43 with a median home price of $213,500.

But there is some good news, at least for displaced mobile home owners in Pinellas County. In December of last year, the County Commission there passed an ordinance, described here by the St. Petersburg Times:

The ordinance requires developers to find adequate housing for mobile home owners who would lose their homes. If adequate housing cannot be found, the developer must put put enough money in a trust fund to help pay the higher rents for two years.

County officials developed the ordinance in response to numerous mobile home parks being torn down across Pinellas to make way for more expensive housing such as condominiums or townhomes.

Sadly, though, it doesn't help apartment renters faced with similar issues when their complexes are purchaed and converted into condos or townhomes. And it doesn't help those people seeking to buy a first home but cannot do so for whatever reason. While there is occasionial discussion of requiring developers seeking to build more six-and-seven-figure price homes to include more affordable housing into their plans, there hasn't been a lot of action toward that goal.

And, at least, it is becoming a major issue in some political campaigns, such as the county commission races in Sarasota County. From Jeremy Wallace of the Sarasota Herald Tribune political blog Political Insider:

Rules to stop apartments from converting to condos...were among the issues the three candidates running for a seat on a Sarasota County Commission talked about this afternoon at the Republican Club of South Sarasota in Venice.

All three Republicans running for the seat, Casey Pilon, Joe Barbetta and John Lewis, all attended the forum hour-long forum.

On affordable housing, all three agreed it was a top issue in the county.

“We don’t have enough affordable housing,” Pilon said.

She talked about creating more rentals and bringing in modular homes to help with the growing need.

Lewis said he’d like to see the county commission to make it more difficult for apartment complexes to turn into condos. He also talked about creating a cap on property taxes for rental properties to give landlords a break from taxes, which often push them to increase rents further out of the price range of working families.

Barbetta also talked about affordable housing, but warned about how far the county should go. Barbetta said he doesn’t want the county creating a new bureaucracy. He said the county should be looking toward Habitat for Humanity as a model about how to build affordable housing, but without creating a top-heaving bureaucracy.

Yeah, they are Republicans, but at least they are talking about the issue and bringing along ideas. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue; it is a human issue touching many people regardless of political identity.

Friends, there is a lot of work to be done, and this is an issue that needs to be seriously discussed further. Otherwise, the idea of individuals and families being forced into the streets doesn't sound too far-fetched, after all.