The Road to Heaven?

or to Hell?
Here's what their cooking up down in South (north) Florida.


Fort Lauderdale to provide housing aid for families making up to $70,000 a year

By Brittany Wallman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 22 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE -- People making moderate incomes -- up to $69,720 a year -- might soon join the ranks of the city's poor in being eligible for housing welfare.

City commissioners agreed Tuesday to pursue a variety of housing measures that would expand subsidy programs to the middle class and would make Fort Lauderdale the first city in Broward County to enact affordability laws.

"Guys, this is a proud moment in the city of Fort Lauderdale's history," said Commissioner Carlton Moore. "It really is. It really is."

The prices of homes and apartments have grown too expensive for middle-income families, causing a growing crisis in the city and countywide.

Public hearings and final votes on a menu of new programs or laws are expected to begin April 4.

The county is demanding the city address affordable housing before allowing construction of more homes and condos downtown.

Last year, county commissioners denied Fort Lauderdale's request to allow 13,000 new homes or condos downtown, agreeing to only 3,000. The county says the city cannot start approving new development proposals from that pool of 3,000 until a housing program is in place.

City commissioners have tentatively endorsed requiring future residential developers to offer at "affordable" prices at least 15 percent of homes or condos, or to pay an "in-lieu of" fee of up to $100,000 for every affordable unit not built. The money would be used to help buyers afford new homes.

Commissioners said developers would not bear all the cost of the new programs. Dollars also might come from all future property purchasers, the state or taxpayers.

Money would pour into a housing trust fund that would be similar to city housing programs using federal dollars for lower-income people. The new trust fund would be open to people making anywhere from 20 percent less than the median income, to 20 percent more.

If developers opt to pay fees rather than build affordable housing, the city could use the resulting trust fund to give buyers second mortgages. The money could also be used to make down payments, help landowners fix up rental properties or buy land to help subsidize entire projects.

The median household income in Fort Lauderdale is $58,100. Those with total household incomes from $46,480 to $69,720 would be eligible.

For a person making the median income of $58,100, "affordable" would be a house or condo that costs about $238,000, assuming a 6 percent interest rate on a loan. The median cost of a Fort Lauderdale house or condominium apartment is the same at $339,000.

At the city, jobs in the moderate-income range include legal secretaries, an assistant city attorney, a code enforcement supervisor, building inspectors and firefighters.

The eventual law or laws will apply citywide, commissioners said, and even in small projects starting at six units.

Developers at Tuesday's meeting said they don't want programs and a bureaucracy that do little to address the problem.

"We want to come up with a solution," said Alan Hooper, chairman of the Downtown Development Authority. "We don't just want to come up with a program that may or may not work."

Moore, who has pushed the city for affordable housing laws for more than a year, was elated with the quick consensus among commissioners and developers. He jumped up from his chair and shook developers' hands in the audience.

"I never thought we'd be here so quickly," he said. "This is great. I love it."

Mayor Jim Naugle, however, said he didn't think the city should intervene in the housing market, adding that he's only doing so because of Broward County's demands.

"I'd rather leave the decisions up to the marketplace," said Naugle.

A study of Fort Lauderdale's workforce housing needs is available on the city's home page, at www.fort lauderdale.gov.

Brittany Wallman can be reached at bwallman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4541.








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