A lack of workforce housing is a national issue and deeply impacts our Gulf Coast region. At Gulf Coast Community Foundation, we have heard the call for help from residents, nonprofit organizations, and business leaders. 

For years, we have been working behind the scenes on a systemic solution to reduce the imbalance between the demand for and available supply of workforce housing. Our community has built many workforce housing units over the past few decades, but with the large-scale creation of market-rate units, demand overwhelms new supply efforts. 

The key to workforce housing is market-based, matching the supply with the demand. We must consider all policy decisions that increase the demand for service workforce housing.

The good news is there are some recent, local workforce housing wins I want to share with you today.

1. We have a Blueprint for Workforce Housing Action Plan that Gulf Coast co-commissioned with the City and County of Sarasota Government. It provides tested, feasible solutions. We are making forward progress on some of these best practice strategies, including using government surplus lands for accessible, quality workforce housing. 
2. Together with some of our generous donors, Gulf Coast Community Foundation funded the development of a 10-unit apartment complex for veterans in the City of Sarasota on land provided by the city. Alongside the City of Sarasota, Office of Housing and Community Development, and St. Vincent de Paul CARES, we are building permanent workforce housing, owned and managed by a nonprofit agency providing safe housing for veterans in need.
3. 3.     The Sarasota Herald-Tribune noted Sarasota County recently approved tiered impact fees for developers building workforce housing. This is a big step forward in incentivizing the market to build workforce housing, and we thank the Sarasota County Commission for this important step.
4. Jon Thaxton, Gulf Coast’s senior vice president of community leadership, serves on Sarasota County’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. The committee’s report is a guide that can be implemented now. One of the most important recommendations from the advisory committee is the adoption of an inclusionary zoning code that requires developers to build workforce housing units to meet the demand created by the new market-rate housing they are creating. 
5. The community successfully supported the allocation of $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that could catalyze the creation of over 700 units of workforce housing. Those projects are in motion, including the two developments mentioned below.

Community & Assisted Supported Living, a nonprofit partner who provides safe, affordable and supportive housing for adults with developmental differences and mental health diagnoses, proposed a new development in northern Sarasota County. The project is moving forward with federal, state and county support. 

Family Promise of South Sarasota County is a strong and innovative nonprofit partner of Gulf Coast. They have stepped up to meet the needs of residents in southern Sarasota County. Gulf Coast awarded $400,000 to FPSSC for 12 Parkside Cottages in Venice for families at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Collaboration with housing developers and using surplus government-owned land creates public-private partnership that works. 

Gulf Coast identified the critical need for workforce housing in 2017, and it was the top priority in the 2019 and 2021 Gulf Coast Regional Scans which are conducted periodically with stakeholder input. 

The first step in solving this social issue is acknowledging the problem. Many sectors are now working together to address the need for additional housing for all income levels. It will take significant and consistent effort to remedy the imbalance of housing stock available so that the supply meets the demand. Celebrating wins helps us to reinforce what is working and build momentum, to achieve more together. 

Mark Pritchett is President and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. 

Photo courtesy Gulf Coast Community Foundation: Family Promise of South Sarasota County’s Parkside Cottages in Venice for families at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Lack of available affordable or attainable housing is a complaint that is widespread from employees to employers. In recent years, it has begun to include middle income retirees as they get pushed out of rentals due to the increase in rents due to increased market demand. Locally, this has been exacerbated by the demand from Hurricane Ian and the COVID migration from northern states. Local governments are now feeling the pinch as well; they can’t fill positions because prospective hires can’t find housing.

Affordable housing is a market issue, so you can’t outright control it. You can incentivize it and encourage it with land use tools and deregulation of costly rules that automatically increase the cost of building. We see a focus on this aspect locally. We applaud local governments for taking these steps to try to tackle the issue, but it must be done in conjunction with government fiscal self-control.

In the upcoming year, the public will need to pay close attention to government fees and encourage government to exercise self-restraint, or even offset fee increases with lower millage rates to make the impact financially neutral on our residents.

The reality is a fee increase is no different than a tax increase in terms of effects. You will even hear the words “user fees” used, making it seem as though the fees are not universally paid by every property owner, when in reality they are. Think about solid waste fees or fire fees as examples. Fees should not be increased without examining the effects of those increases on vulnerable populations, who are already struggling to stay in their homes.

The economics of fees impact affordable housing. Landlords will pass those fee increases on to renters, homeowners will directly absorb the fees, and governments may claim that they have not raised the millage rate.

Some governments have backed themselves into corners with fee increases. These governments spent time-limited, one-time federal money on recurring expenditures that will make it extremely difficult to offset fee increases with millage rate reductions. Basically, the items are budgeted with no plan as to how to fund the item after the federal dollars run out.

Local governments need to step back, take their time to consider all the potential fiscal impacts, and determine if a dollar they spend is a dollar contributing to the affordable housing crisis. In the next six months, governments will be getting to the meat of their budgets and having separate public hearings on fees. 

The Argus Foundation encourages local governments to examine every increase in spending against the cost to housing, it should be a part of every budget workshop and fee public hearing. The overall increase to property owners with both increases in property values and fees should be transparently examined if governments are serious about their stated priority of housing.

The time of excess spending has come to a close. We cannot rely on the unusual influx of Federal dollars going forward. It is time to seriously consider the ramifications of new taxes and fees in relation to their effects on affordable housing. We look forward to the affordable housing conversation being integrated into budget and fee discussions by local governments.

Christine Robinson is the executive director of The Argus Foundation.