Cities Urged to Tackle Housing Crisis

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward housing experts said they will create a public “scorecard” within the next few months that will help local government keep track of their efforts to tame the affordable housing crisis – and see how neighboring cities fare.

Ralph Stone, Broward County’s director of the Housing Finance Division, said cities are being encouraged to “engage in helping resolve their own affordable housing demand.”

The idea: Cities participate in the growing effort to create housing for the families with the least means to pay for it.

The problem has become more pronounced each year as properties have become more unattainable for lower-income workers. Key local industries, such as hospitality and tourism, depend on lower-income service workers to survive.

This spring, the county signed off on a 10-year plan to find ways to create housing based on the estimated shortage of nearly 73,000 affordable houses in Broward, and another 74,000-unit gap of rental apartments.

Among the recommendations for cities: Create an “Affordable Housing Trust Fund” for down payment assistance or rental assistance; hire an ombudsman to “guide and expedite” affordable housing projects; change zoning laws to facilitate construction of affordable housing; and create a tracker to see what each city has accomplished, so as to stay accountable.

The new scorecard tracker will be online so the public can see “what everybody is doing,” Stone said.

Yet, he cautioned that there will be no strong-arming: “We’re not forcing the cities into anything, we’ve identified ways to get there, we’re available to have discussions, totally collaborate.”

The county’s role will be to “meet and advise and collaborate. It’s not going to be getting more aggressive than that.”

Some cities have pledged money to deal with the crisis, others will set aside land for construction.

Edward “Ned” Murray, associate director with the Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, praised the county’s efforts to get the ideas to fruition.

“The challenge is going to be getting municipalities to respond,” he said. “Some have, but many have not. There is housing being built but we need all 31 municipalities to get involved – all 31 have needs” and view each housing development as an opportunity to create affordable units, he said.

The area median income for Broward County is $89,100. Murray said the most urgent need is for households earning $71,280 or less, which is 80% of the area median income.

More than 127,318 renter households earn less than that, making them “cost burdened.” That’s about half of Broward’s 262,309 renters, Murray said.

“We’re hoping individual municipalities are putting together strategies,” he said.

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