Like all communities across the nation, Volusia County is facing an affordable housing crisis caused by a growing disparity between wages and housing costs. The County Council on Tuesday affirmed its commitment to tackling the issue by unanimously accepting a comprehensive and detailed five-year plan compiled by county staff with findings from three affinity groups.
Led by members of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, the affinity groups were composed of 32 community members who focused on community land trusts, funding and land development regulations over the past several months.
The plan presented to the County Council outlined 10 key strategies for success:
- Create a community land trust, a nonprofit organization that separates a housing unit from the land it is built on for the purpose of transferring the title to the unit without selling the land.
- Maximize existing funding streams for the highest and best use to preserve and create new affordable housing capacity
- Create an environment supportive of new affordable housing development through effective communication and collaboration
- Actively support new state and federal funding to create new affordable housing capacity
- Create an affordable housing trust fund
- Modify the county’s comprehensive plan to include an affordable housing review team to decrease the time and expense to build affordable housing
- Modify the county’s comprehensive plan to include an affordable housing zoning overlay to encourage affordable housing development in identified geographic areas
- Modify the county’s comprehensive plan to include options for fee waivers and deferrals and density bonuses for affordable housing projects
- Create an affordable housing ordinance and modify the comprehensive plan to clearly delineate the supports available to developers of affordable housing
- Allow for reasonable administrative modification to zoning requirement for affordable housing projects
“Knowing that there is no one solution for providing affordable housing, this plan represents a toolbox of strategies to build more affordable housing opportunities for the citizens of Volusia County,” Anne Evans, chair of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, told the County Council.
There are more households in need of housing in Volusia County than there are affordable housing units available to them. According to the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida, there are 10,615 renter households earning 30% or less of the area median income, but there are only 4,865 units that would be affordable to them.
County Chair Jeff Brower, who called the plan a working document and call to action, said: "There are things in this that all of us are not going to agree with, but it's full of great ideas. This is a document that won't solve the housing problems in the next few months. This helps us get started with some really focused strategies for success."
“I certainly support the plan,” added County Council Vice Chair Barb Girtman, who made the motion for acceptance. “It matters that we be very thoughtful about the dollars, identifying every opportunity. Quite a bit of funds have been identified to put toward these efforts. I’m real proud of the work the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, staff and the community have done. Everyone came together to make this happen. I’m grateful for it.”
County staff will move forward with implementation. Necessary items will be brought before the County Council for review and discussion.
The complete plan can be viewed at www.volusia.org/ahi.
Original source can be found here.
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