The Palm Coast Community Center was not the place to be this afternoon if you wanted to hear cheery answers and simple solutions to increasing the dismal stock of affordable housing in the city and the county. But it was the only place and one of the rare times in recent years where local governments–the county and Palm Coast–devoted a serious forum to explore difficult questions and realistic possibilities to bring more affordable housing to the region.
The forum, “From Blueprint to Action,” was the work of the joint city-county Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and Palm Coast government, gathering a half dozen housing experts who shared various perspectives from their vantage points, none of them quick, simple or cheap, all of them doable, because they’re being done elsewhere.
“Right now, the average housing cost is between 40 and 50 percent of a person’s income,” Valerie Clymer, the moderator of the nearly three-hour forum, said. Clymer is a mortgage loan officer and the vice chair of the joint city-county affordable housing advisory committee. “So that in my book is a little bit too much. It is a recipe for disaster and that’s why I’m so passionate about it and that’s why I’m glad to be here helping to facilitate this.”
In the Palm Coast area, a family of four living on $39,000 or less is considered to be very low income, and could not afford housing at more than $975 a month. The same family living on $52,000 is considered low income, Palm Coast government’s Maeven Rogers said.
That may explain why even some teachers and first responders can end up living in their cars, Clymer, the forum’s moderator said.
“There are so many different ways” to make housing affordable, Bill Lazar, executive director of the St. Johns Housing Partnership, a non-profit, said. Based on the ideas presented today, he was not exaggerating, though some of the ideas were presented from a very different perspective: “Affordable housing is essentially a subsidy for employers because we’re stabilizing their workforce. So you have to think about it as economic development,” Lazar said.
But two factors contributed to a reduction in affordable housing over the years, he said: Government quit building the infrastructure on top of which affordable housing could be built, shifting that responsibility–and cost–to builders. And 40 percent of small builders who used to build starter homes were wiped out in the housing crash of 2008. Lazar illustrated his point: at one project in St. Augustine, his organization built a structure that cost $815,000, but it cost an additional $100,000 to improve water and sewer infrastructure that previously had been the government’s responsibility.
Building is easy. “Making it affordable, sustainable in the long term is the hard part,” said Scott Culp of Atlantic Housing Partners, who’s built over 50,000 apartment homes in 10 states. He now focuses his construction projects on Central Florida. He summed up one road to more affordability to three options: local governments can (and must) see the density of development as a currency that can make housing more affordable: the more you can build more densely, like apartment complexes, the less the cost of that housing, the more affordable the rent. Second, local governments can also have a housing finance authority that could tap “almost limitless allocations” of tax-free bonds. Third, local governments can leverage their resources to tap “extremely valuable federal tax credits” earmarked for affordable housing.
The Live Local Act that the Florida Legislature approved in 2023 and refined this year provides credits to builders who devote just 10 percent of their development to affordable housing.
To Annamaria Long, who’s lived the better part of 34 years in the county and is the executive officer of the Flagler Home Builders Association, “there are barriers to housing affordability, and some of those are regulatory fees,” she said, a cost she placed locally in sum at $24,000 for a single-family home in Palm Coast (impact fees, inspection fees and the like). Lot size minimums, garage requirements and low inventory of available homes are among the factors driving up costs, she said. Property insurance costs are also hurting homeowners substantially.
“Imagine spending less than 30 percent of your income on housing, where we could spend that,” she said. But she wasn’t bleak about it. Long said new community development districts are making better accommodations for smaller homes, smaller lot sizes, smaller garages or no garages. The reduced requirements are not only benefiting empty-nesters, or retirees, but younger people starting out. “So it is a split, it is possible, to make your codes adaptable to make that happen,” Long said.
“I see a lot of hope for us, and I think back often to what Palm Coast looked like 20 years ago, and how I was one foot out the door in high school, and I’m so glad I came back,” Long said, “because I can’t imagine what the college was coming this way and all of the economic development on our forefront.” She said her children will not have one foot out the door as she had, when they are ready to enter the workforce.
On the other hand, Maeven Rogers, Palm Coast’s administrative coordinator–she’s in charge of grants at the city–did not let the criticism of regulatory cost go unanswered: “As it exists now, impact fees are critically important for the city of Palm Coast to have because that builds our roads, our stormwater control, the utilities and under the ground for the wastewater and potable water,” she said.
Meanwhile, she noted, the city is providing some subsidies to those facing housing difficulties, albeit not in very large numbers because of limits on available subsidies. “Palm Coast last year, provided 260 homes with rental assistance. And what’s really significant about that is you know, that was funding from the federal government so no money out of the city of Palm Coast,” Rogers said. “What’s significant is that in order to prevent homelessness, The best way is to get it before it happens. It is much more expensive to take someone that is homeless and put them in a house so they continue housing someone that might just be in trouble.”
Flagler Cares, the social service coordinating non-profit based on Palm Coast, receives and administers federal community development block grants (CDBG), as does the Family Life Center, another local non-profit. Flagler Cares, which does its own case management to administer the program, has provided rent or utility assistance to 281 individuals in 79 households in two funding cycles between October 2022 and January 2024, and 74 individuals have received financial aid either to obtain or maintain housing, according to Carrie Baird, Flagler Cares’ executive director. The organization typically runs out of funds well before the grant year is over.
The city took some criticism from Denise Calderwood, a frequent critic of local governments and occasional political candidate who said there’s been 30 years of talk and no action.
There were remarks about the high cost of labor–costs that surpass the cost of materials, making construction more challenging. That tied into Lazar’s points earlier. But he cautioned: “When we look at these labor costs, it’s not easy to just say oh, I want a cheaper home but labor’s got to go down. One of the reasons we have such high labor costs is because they can’t afford to live close enough to work. You can now make $20 an hour at a fast food place in certain places. Why is the roofer going to get up on a roof for less than $30 an hour? It’s a lot safer to flip a burger.”
What no one addressed, curiously, is the prejudice in communities like Palm Coast against affordable housing, a pair of words that often, and with gross inaccuracies, are associated with crime or, when the critics are motivated by bigotry, minorities.
Rogers hinted at the latent prejudices in the air without addressing them directly: “The city of Palm Coast is not going to lay out a bunch of multifamily housing,” she said, using the euphemism about apartments. “I want to just make sure that that’s clear. We’re not trying to change the neighborhood look and feel. We really want to keep people in those neighborhoods. But what we don’t have is life-stage housing. So basically what happens when your son or your granddaughter graduate high school. Is there a one-bedroom apartment available for them? Is there a three-bedroom apartment available for the teacher? Is there a two bedroom condo available for retirees that can no longer take care of their lawn and looking to downsize? We would like for city of Palm Coast residents that want to stay here to stay here their whole life.”
In the end, Lazar said, perhaps anticipating the complaint about talk drowning out action, “ultimately there’s always a little pot of money somewhere to help, but what you always have to have are people who are going to lead the way. We need elected officials. We need housing staff that are real advocates for it, because it’s just like anything else. You have the best policies in the world. But if someone doesn’t carry it forward and say: we need this now, it doesn’t work.”
County Commission Chairman Andy Dance and Palm Coast City Council member Cathy Heighter were in the audience. But they were the only elected officials present. It’s a local reality that may explain why affordable housing is in crisis mode. Memorial events, glossy ribbon cuttings and clubbish luncheons tend to draw disproportionate shares of elected officials, those who want to get elected, or schmoozing chamber types. Forums about a problem affecting thousands of local residents, some of them without homes, not so much.
“We have work to do,” Dance said after the forum.
Billy says
We all know what section housing does to a city. Why would we want that.
Tracy says
Without affordable housing, soon there won’t be anyone to take your order or check you out at the store–unless they come from out of town.
Robin says
One step towards affordable housing is to require a percentage of units in a housing complex-usually condominiums or apartments- at below market rates.
Would a city bond issue make this feasible?
DP says
This is something that came up at the forum. Some of the solutions will take some time, but one consideration is for Flagler County to consider developing a Housing Finance Agency under Chapter 159 to issue bonds at no cost to the county.
Angela says
Chapter 159 is a no brainer. We should have been on top of this from the beginning.
JC says
Sorry, but Flagler County/Palm Coast don’t want any affordable housing. A lot of the people who moved here from the North don’t want to deal with those people at all. They don’t care if they can’t afford to live here and they don’t want their housing values to go down. St. Johns County Commissioners recently voted no to an affordable housing plan due to traffic, link is here: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/05/07/st-johns-county-commissioners-vote-down-proposed-plan-to-build-288-affordable-apartments-over-traffic-concerns/
The most important citizen comment from the link above is here:
“Driving an hour to work. I’m sorry, not sorry,” said one St. Johns County resident who said he moved to the county three years ago from Pennsylvania after retiring from law enforcement. “I didn’t get to live here until I was 49, three years ago. Sorry, affordability, I earned a right to live here because I followed societal norms, I worked my way up…I earned it. If someone has to drive an hour to work that’s part of getting your career started to eventually grow and move up.”
These are the same people who live in Palm Coast. The classic “Fuck You, I got mine” attitude. Even some places I go to eat have bad service since they can’t hire anymore to work near min wage in Palm Coast. I know plenty of people who don’t want want these people in Palm Coast but they will not go to a restaurant if they have to pay even more money to keep employees.
Deborah Coffey says
Yeah, sad, isn’t it! Too many grievance driven, unhappy people that have to look down on others in order to feel good about themselves. Extra sad coming from a law enforcement retiree.
Local Citizen says
This forum had nothing to do with Secion-8 housing. It was about keeping costs down for people in general so they can continue to build their careers here or retire here. Section-8 only helps a fraction of the people who could use it, and it does nothing for a single parent earning $50,000 who cannot afford increased rents or get into homeownership.
The Sour Kraut says
Increased density will certainly help with the serious lack of infrastructure in Flagler County. I am sure the proposed builders will gladly pay impact fees large enough to cover the counties cost to upgrade municipal services and roads. Just like they have in the past.
/s
Fernando Melendez says
I’ve always said that it isn’t enough to just talk about it which is what the County Commissioners often do instead of actually doing something.
In our second joint meeting of updating our county comprehensive plan with the County Commission and the planning board you will see our County’s poor excuse of why the county basically throws in the towel on housing thats affordable. It was laughable at best but really sad to hear why they find it difficult to deal with developers. Governments should try their best in working with developers in coming up with a plan. And of course you’ll see incumbents show up at these event looking for exposure and making promises like last time it’s election time. Wait for them to show up at your churches, front doors, and mailboxes.
Joe D says
The CITY is not taking about “SECTION 8” low income housing where renters pay 25% of their income, and the Government pays the remaining 75%….that’s the problem with RESIDENTS’ false perceptions.
This housing (Condos and Apartments) is housing that can be affordable for families making $50k to $70k…..that’s NOT so called “welfare” housing.
When my son back in Maryland, needed housing for himself and his 3 year old son, he looked at rentals that were running $1300-1400 / month for 2 bedroom /1 bath apartments…a ridiculous WASTE of money.
He was able to buy a Suburban 2 bedroom with a den, 2 bath Condo for $110k 2 years ago. Has a balcony, 24 hour lobby staff, and a large secure reserved parking lot. With the Condo fee, insurance, mortgage and taxes, he pays $1240 ( due to the homeowners tax deductions)…much less than RENTING. His salary was $50k… (now $60k), as a clinical technician.
It did not have STAINLESS appliances, nor granite counters, the kitchen was a bit small, and the bathrooms were last updated in the late 90’s. There is a pool, but no “fitness center,” or other fancy (costly) amenities.
He was able to qualify as a first time buyer program through his local credit union, and $10k in savings (he’s VERY good at saving money), paid the 3% Down payment and the closing costs.
It’s not his DREAM HOME ( single family 3-4 bedroom /2.5 bath, with full basement/2 car garage/ and a large yard), but it’s a START…and has increased $25k in 2 years….so he can “move up” later as his income increases.
Such a scenario should not be IMPOSSIBLE in Palm Coast (although probably is impossible in Flagler Beach), due to the lack of expansion space for much new housing of ANY type).
If Palm Coast and Flagler County in general, don’t do SOMETHING to allow younger families to AFFORD local housing, there will be NO WORKERS available for jobs in the area, now and in the FUTURE!
dp says
It’s important to note that the conversation involves the entire pipeline of housing available to workers, retirees, and current residents with disabled household members. We want to encourage diversity of housing options so we don’t lose talent–this includes reasonably priced rental and studios, entry level single family homes and town homes, potential accessory dwelling units.
Many of the solutions to do this are solutions that don’t always sit well with all the people, such as allowing smaller zero lot-line homes with smaller yards, allowing single-family homes with one or no car garage, and this can happen in new areas of opportunity so that people already living in suburan communities do not see disruption to the look and feel of their current community.
We learned that there are things happening, and even though the forum focused on Palm Coast and Flagler County (Mostly Palm Coast), Community Development staff from the City of Bunnell had the opportunity to note their upcoming proposed project which hits all the marks of what our current residents need to find housing in a walkable community near commercial centers.
The westward expansion of Palm Coast and the Town Center Community Development district are already allowing for these options.
Single family homes are a big part of this pipeline and this conversation. We do need more affordably priced rental options, but that’s not the only housing option we must consider.
Concerned says
As seen by all agencies involved in assisting those in need, the number of those seeking help is rising quickly. Hopefully the meetings will move forward with proactive solutions instead of reactive scrambles.
One area I did not see addressed is loss of current inventory, Shouldn’t all involved also be looking at preserving and regulating our current housing options? There is a large trend of all forms of housing being snapped up to be used as short term rentals. The lure of high cash flow returns from “visitors” as opposed to monthly rent from locals has significantly impacted the availability of affordable rentals for those who live and work in Flagler County. Short term rental not only wipe out inventory, they also make it legal for neighborhoods to now become commercial entities and by the time rental problems are reported and addressed, the “visitors” are long gone. Seems like an area to strongly consider.
The dude says
A lot of people worried about “those” people moving in..,
Now what could possibly be coloring their attitudes to make them feel this way?
feddy says
And when did race come into it?
Dennis C Rathsam says
This is happening everywhere! Interest rates are at an all time high. Welcome to Bidens America!
Local Citizen says
Agreed. It seems as though it’s difficult to regulate under state law, though. Cities can charge rental fees, but I’m not sure if those fees can be more for short term rentals.
If you visit the Air DNA website, it can be a little shocking to see how many of these businesses are operating in our residential communities. It seems that having short term rentals would be viewed as a commercial activity that could be restricted from long-term residential communities. We’re seeing that these impact appraised values, and they increase rents and home prices.
Donald Westhouse says
Pay to play. Simple as that. If you can’t afford a house here look elsewhere. WHY people are coming in droves to Flagler County I have NO idea. There is nothing here!
Now because there is nothing here you have all this commercial building to make something here & your going to now be a I95 rest stop. Thanks!
It took me 25 minutes to get from Rymfire to 95 last week!