Guest commentary: State attending to housing needs

The state of Florida is facing an affordable housing crisis unlike any we have ever experienced. Ironically, it is the result of an unprecedented booming real estate market and prosperous economy — an economic surge that has unfortunately priced many Floridians out of the American Dream.

From the Panhandle to Key West, the dream of owning or even renting an affordable place to live has become out of reach for many Floridians. The average cost of a home in Florida has jumped by close to 90 percent since 2001, yet average wages have grown by only about 10 percent. This has led to a huge "gap" in the ability of working families to find a safe and affordable place to live in their communities—a gap which has also put an enormous strain on traditional affordable housing programs.

This critical housing shortage has now created a new class of families in need of affordable housing — moderate income residents — many of whom are employed in essential service areas of our local economies but are overqualified for existing affordable housing programs. In towns across the state, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to employ and maintain essential services personnel because employees can simply no longer afford to live in the areas in which they work, forcing many to commute hours to reach their jobs.

When employers can't hire the teachers, nurses, police, bank tellers, skilled construction trade workers and others who are the life blood of our communities, our economy is in serious jeopardy. If families can't live in the communities in which they work, they become alienated and disenfranchised. Without this sense of community identification, we become dangerously close to losing the very soul of our communities.

Thankfully, state and local policy makers have come to realize that a lack of affordable housing is both a social and economic crisis — one that the past two hurricane seasons have only exacerbated. During the 2006 legislative session, the Florida Legislature took a much-needed step in passing HB 1363, a far-reaching affordable housing bill that strengthens housing programs for individuals across a broad continuum of income levels.

The bill also created the Community Workforce Housing Innovation Program, designed to incentivize local public-private partnerships to develop workforce housing for essential services personnel with incomes up to 140 percent of area median income. Representing $50 million in funding for innovative solutions for workforce housing, this program is the first of its kind in the country and will help reshape the attitudes of many regarding the value of affordable housing for working citizens.

Bill sponsors, Rep. Mike Davis and Sen. Mike Bennett, should be congratulated for their tireless efforts on behalf of Florida's workforce.

Many local governments around the state are also working hard to develop their own solutions. One city taking a lead on the issue is Tallahassee, which has partnered with local developer K2 Urbancorp to develop innovative solutions for workforce housing in hopes that it will serve as a guide for other communities around the state.

We must continue to recognize that housing has is an essential component of our communities' infrastructures and, just like jobs, roads, schools and transportation, must be addressed to ensure the continued and proper growth of our state. Thanks to these efforts, we now have policies and programs in place to help either meet or counter this growing problem.

Our work is far from finished, however. The Legislature must now take the most important step needed to deal with this issue by fully funding the Affordable Housing Trust Funds. We've seen that affordable housing for working families is a prerequisite to maintaining the economic prosperity Florida has enjoyed over the last several years.

And, the cost of ignoring the American Dream is just too high.

Jeffrey Sharkey works for Capitol Alliance Group, a lobbying and public affairs consulting firm in Tallahassee. His firm says he has long been involved with affordable/workforce housing issues dating back to the creation of the Sadowski Act Trust fund in the 1990s.