Throughout Florida, cities and counties are struggling with achieving a balance between the development pressures that accompany growth and the need to retain housing affordability. Few municipalities from Key West to Tallahassee better reflect that tug-of-war than Hollywood. The city of 150,000 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami celebrates its centennial this year while staging a half-billion-dollar downtown revival.

The redevelopment at the city’s downtown circle will see BTI Partners replace a long-shuttered bread factory built more that 60 years ago with a new 362-unit multifamily tower and more than 16,000 square feet of retail space.

In a second phase, twin towers linked by a dramatic skywalk will rise on a parcel formerly occupied by a strip shopping center.

At the same time, local developer Pinnacle has faced an issue in developing its affordable housing community Pinnacle 441. Demand for housing affordability is so intense the company drew tens of thousands of interested renters for its limited units.

“Demand for affordable housing is off the charts, in ways not previously seen in my four decades in the industry,” says Timothy Wheat, partner in Pinnacle Partners. “We have had to implement a lottery system just to manage the volume . . . We resorted to using a lottery and received 21,000 registrants for 113 units. Since then, we’ve had to conduct lotteries for three additional communities because the demand continues to outpace supply at every turn. It is unprecedented and alarming. Solving this crisis will take sustained public-private collaboration, serious investment and the political will to clear roadblocks that prevent developments like this from being completed at a faster rate.”

Continued shortfall

While acute in Hollywood, the affordability crisis has impacted a great many other cities across the Sunshine State. So reports University of Florida News. According to the outlet, a dearth of affordable housing for the state’s workforce and fixed-income seniors is ongoing despite increasing multifamily and single-family home building. UF News reported the affordable rental housing shortage is severe for renters whose incomes fall below 80% of area median income (AMI), and especially severe for those below 60%.

Across the state an estimated 862,000 renter households whose incomes fall below 60% AMI are shelling out for monthly rent more than 40% of their incomes. One of the most worrisome harbingers of future affordability is that Florida added more than 700,000 units with gross rents higher than $1,200 monthly between 2012 and 2022. But over the same period it lost nearly 292,000 units renting for $1,200 or less.

The Live Local Act, a Florida state law in effect since July 2023, was intended to generate more rental housing by incentivizing developers and constraining the ability of municipalities to restrict height and density of qualifying affordable developments.

“Florida’s housing crisis is severe, driven by rapid population growth and a limited housing supply,” says Keith Poliakoff, a Florida government and municipal law expert. “The Live Local Act was a strong first step, but it hasn’t had the intended impact largely because of municipalities [that] have found loopholes to block new developments.

“To get the full benefits of this legislation, the state must tighten these regulations, strengthen incentives and hold governments accountable. Without these changes, the workers who keep our communities running will continue to be priced out of the neighborhoods they serve.”

Outdated zoning

Steven J. Wernick, partner at East Coast law firm Day Pitney, agrees that the Live Local Act will prove only as effective as local governments’ response. “Most cities and counties are still operating under outdated zoning frameworks that weren’t designed to accommodate today’s housing needs,” he says. “If we want to create real, lasting impact, we need to rethink how we use land, embracing mixed-use, higher-density development in areas that can support it and reducing minimum parking requirements that drive up costs. That requires not only updating local zoning codes but also shifting the mindset around what smart growth looks like in Florida’s urban and suburban communities.”

Article Link: Charting Florida Housing Affordability Stressors In Hollywood And Beyond
Author: Jeffrey Steele