The Leon County Commission will consider a new proposal to increase the availability of affordable rental housing at its January 28th meeting. The proposal comes from the Capital Area Justice Ministry, a group of diverse religious congregations that works to end poverty.
The plan would set aside 20 percent of the county’s annual allocation from the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency to buy land that would then be leased for developers to help reduce the cost of affordable rental housing. County Commissioner David O’Keefe, who is backing the proposal, says that would amount to roughly $1.3 million per year for 5 years.
“This would bring approximately 33 new affordable rental units per year for low- and very-low-income families over the next 5 years," O'Keefe said. "And this is done by doing a land-lease program where the government controls the development and thus can guarantee that it stays affordable.”
But O'Keefe suspects the proposal won’t be popular with other commissioners.
“I think it’s a long shot," he said. "I think if the community wants affordable rental housing, they need to step up and get loud and let the other commissioners know before our January meeting – because there was a good bit of hesitancy from my colleagues. And overall, this is a good idea that has been a successful example in Pinellas County. And we can’t keep finding ways to say no to good ideas.”
Part of the problem is that Blueprint gets its money from the one-cent sales tax surcharge. Blueprint’s slate of local projects was last approved by the voters in 2014, but affordable housing wasn’t on that list. Detractors say Blueprint’s allocation to the county is earmarked for important projects like improving roads.
But the Capital Area Justice Ministry points to the more than 1,000 homeless Leon County schoolchildren and the 16,000 Leon families spending more than half their incomes for rent and utilities.
