A private effort builds a new solution to the affordable housing shortage in the Keys Celebrated as a sunny, laid-back paradise, the Florida Keys, and its reputation as a tourist hub, mask serious housing affordability issues. The archipelago of islands strung out into the Caribbean, filled with an increasing number of high-end resorts and expensive beach homes, leaves little room for those with lower incomes.
High housing costs burden many of the region?s working class residents. In Monroe County, which contains the Keys, 49 percent of residents spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and 26 percent spend more than half their income on housing, according to Gladys Cook, a technical advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition.
When Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys on September 10 last year, the storm wrecked havoc on the islands, and turned an already existing affordable housing problem into a crisis. More than 7 percent of the housing stock was destroyed, and Monroe County commissioner David Rice called the situation a ?crisis.? ?We were surprised how disproportionate the damage was to lower income housing,? says Cook.
As the saying goes, don?t waste a crisis. A new private initiative, the Florida Keys Community Land Trust, seeks to turn the disaster into an opportunity to build new affordable housing.
By purchasing property damaged by the storm, and placing it in a public trust, the newly formed nonprofit will be able to reduce the impact of spe...