OUR POSITION: Housing that people can afford is scarce, but Sarasota County is taking steps to alleviate the problem.
More than 12 million renters across the United States are “severely” cost-burdened as of 2022, which means they’re paying more than half their income for rent and utilities, according to a January study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Florida renters face some of the highest prices in the nation with the East Coast — Fort Lauderdale and Miami especially — seeing nearly 35% of renters severely burdened by high rents.
The Gulf Coast faces the same issue, and local governments have made finding affordable housing a priority.
Charlotte County has an affordable housing fund to help developers who want to get into the game, and is awaiting construction on affordable housing units on the Bachman tract off Veterans Boulevard.
Sarasota County has recently kicked its efforts into high gear.
Last week, the Resilient SRQ Multifamily Affordable Housing program announced plans for an information session to help nonprofit developers, for-profit developers, municipalities within the county and public housing authorities to apply for a piece of $40 million in funding for such projects.
The money is part of $201.5 million Sarasota County will receive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Community Development Block Grant — Disaster Recovery.
CDBG-DR money is to pay for unmet needs following Hurricane Ian.
“This program will provide funding to develop new affordable housing in Sarasota County,” said Laurel Varnell, Resilient SRQ program manager. “The aftermath of Hurricane Ian presented an increased need for affordable living units, and this program is designed to help meet that need.”
Anyone interested in applying for the Multifamily Affordable Housing program can do so online at scgov.net/ResilientSRQ. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. May 1.
That’s not all Sarasota County is doing to promote cheaper housing alternatives.
The Sarasota County School Board is considering a 40-acre property the district owns on Indian Hills Boulevard off Center Road near Venice for an affordable housing site.
The board is interested in using the land to entice developers to build affordable single- and multi-family housing units.
Board members looked at information on One Stop Housing, a private company that specializes in workforce rentals. The company proposed a deal to provide affordable rental housing for school district employees.
Mark Vengroff told board members “100% of everything (One Stop Housing does) is at 80% AMI (area median income) or less.”
Vengroff said OSH would survey teachers and staff to understand the needs of the district, and would even consider an on-site day care and telehealth center on the property.
Right now, the average rent in the county is $1,824 per month, 22% higher than the national average as of this month.
Local home builders Neal Communities also gave a workforce housing proposal for the Indian Hills property. Its proposal was for educating district employees about home ownership and giving them information on down payment assistance programs.
Board members were in no hurry — and they shouldn’t be — to make any deals just yet.
We’re pleased at the outside-the-box thinking the board seems to be doing and the emphasis on helping their own employees find affordable housing. The turnover rate for teachers nationwide is growing and any program to put teachers and other school personnel in a home they can afford should help draw new teachers.
More programs and ideas for affordable housing options are needed. This is a problem that won’t go away and it’s a topic that local governments must address with urgency.
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