Amid a major housing crisis that is crippling businesses, upending households, and pricing longtime residents out of the area, some local governments are mobilizing.
In recent months, municipalities throughout Sarasota County have considered unprecedented ways to confront the massive shortage in affordable and workforce housing.
North Port and the City of Sarasota are pursuing a broad menu of options. Sarasota County just allotted $25 million in federal dollars to affordable housing, while Venice is conducting a review of its land-use regulations.
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But after decades of warnings that went largely unheeded as the crisis built to the current emergency, skeptics and housing advocates are watching closely to see if promises translate into action and results.
Citing studies showing that half of all renting households in the region are now considered "rent-burdened," paying more than 30% of income in rent, they argue that major action is needed.
Government officials insist that they’re rising to meet the challenge.
“It is really time to make some headway and bold moves,” Sarasota City Commissioner Hagen Brody told residents during a recent packed town hall meeting where Brody and City Planner Steve Cover outlined new city proposals that Brody called “visionary.”
They include: “inclusionary zoning” that would require developers to set aside portions of construction projects for affordable units in exchange for incentives; mixed-use residential zoning in commercial corridors with incentives to encourage affordable units; and a new zoning district for duplexes and triplexes in downtown’s Park East neighborhood.
Brody stressed that he thought this crisis could not be solved only through local governments and the Sarasota Housing Authority.
“The realization I’ve come to is that there has to be a private sector connection to this,” Brody said.
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But to some residents, that sounded like more of the same. Several noted that incentives like density bonuses for developers have been on the books for years – yielding little to nothing in the way of affordable housing as luxury developments boomed.
“At what point do we as a city require them to do what’s right?” one woman said, addressing Brody.
Ruth Beltran, a Sarasota resident and community organizer, told Brody that in the short term there were many more steps local governments could be taking to protect tenants’ rights, as other communities are doing.
She also said that affordable units built by the private sector through public incentives aren't a long-term solution because they too quickly revert to market rental rates.
“It’s a handout to developers,” Beltran said.
Jon Thaxton – a former county commissioner who has spent decades sounding the alarm bells about a ballooning affordable housing crisis while serving on housing advisory committees – sees a difference this time.
“Affordable housing has never been this highly ranked as a community priority in all the jurisdictions over the last three decades as it has now,” Thaxton, the senior vice president for community leadership at Gulf Coast Community Foundation, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
“I can’t think of a single entity out there not thinking about affordable housing and looking for leadership to provide solutions,” Thaxton said.
Now is the time to act, he added, not only to address the desperate need, but also to seize upon broad community support.
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But the groundswell of local government and community interest could easily be squandered unless change is done right, he warned. And it all comes down to three magic words: mandatory inclusionary zoning.
The cities of Sarasota and North Port are both looking into inclusionary zoning, along with other initiatives to increase the area’s affordable housing stock.
But the mandatory part is especially important, said Thaxton, for two key reasons.
Unlike density bonuses – which for decades on their own failed to create sustainable affordable housing as developers opted for bigger, profitable luxury homes and condos – mandatory inclusionary zoning would require that a percentage of all units built in designated areas be affordable.
While Thaxton lauded other affordable housing tools – such as recent ordinances for accessory dwelling units in the city and county of Sarasota, the county’s expedited permitting measures and conversion of county surplus land for affordable housing – they are only half of the equation.
They address the supply of affordable housing, while mandatory inclusionary zoning addresses the creation of demand.
Why? Because new housing units being built by the thousands create that much more demand for affordable and workforce housing.
Someone, he said, needs to cut those lawns, clean those pools, wait tables, teach children from those homes, fight their fires and nurse their wounded at hospitals. And those people need an affordable place to live.
Mandatory inclusionary zoning would help keep pace with demand for affordable housing that is created by new growth. The other tools, meanwhile, address supply for existing needs.
“My point is, and has been, a single option will not bridge this oceanic housing needs gap, and I can’t see getting there without mandatory inclusionary zoning,” Thaxton said. “If we don’t have it, all the gains we make from all the other policies are going to be wiped out.”
Yet while some jurisdictions like Miami cite great success with inclusionary zoning in spurring the building of affordable housing, for others, a 2019 state law has had a “chilling effect,” according to the Florida Housing Coalition.
That includes Sarasota County, which, in the wake of the law, took steps to back off plans for requirements for affordable housing in favor of the “voluntary” density bonus system.
The state law dictates that local governments offset costs to developers when mandating affordable housing as part of their developments. Some claim that the law makes it too costly for municipalities to use mandatory inclusionary zoning.
“Hogwash,” says Jaimie Ross, president and CEO of the Florida Housing Coalition. “It’s not based in fact.”
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Instead, mandatory inclusionary zoning is “absolutely” appropriate when a developer is seeking to rezone agricultural or commercial property to residential, she said. That mere change exponentially increases the value of the property, offsetting the developer’s cost to include the required affordable housing units as part of their proposed projects – and satisfying the law.
“If they make that land use change and don’t include this requirement simultaneously, then they have worsened the housing crisis,” she said. “You’re not going to be able to come back later and require it. You have to do it at the time you are increasing the value of the property.”
While mandatory inclusionary zoning might be one of the most effective long-term affordable housing tools for local governments, there are others.
Earlier this year, the Sarasota County commission committed $25 million to affordable housing out of its $84.2 million share from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. Combined with an additional $137 million from area nonprofits and other groups, the monies will contribute to the building of almost 700 new units of affordable housing through several public and nonprofit regional partners with an expertise in the area.
County Commissioner Nancy Detert, who sits on the Sarasota Consortium Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, said that is the type of contribution she favors the county undertake toward affordable housing.
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Not a fan of inclusionary zoning, she prefers working with nonprofits with a track record in affordable housing – like those receiving the ARPA funds, building the 700 units – not for-profit developers.
“I think we have to work with the nonprofits and not count on the regular residential developers to solve our problem for us,” she said. “They are not going to do it.”
While other measures are under discussion on the commission – such as possibly reducing impact fees for developers building affordable housing – she points to the ARPA allotment as a major success.
“We’ve already taken a giant bite out of this problem,” she said.
Still, while praising the move, residents and advocates say 700 units is a drop in the bucket, when the need is so great.
While the Venice City Council is currently rewriting its land development regulations, Mayor Ron Feinsod is not optimistic about its commitment to affordable housing.
In the 600-pages or so of regulations he’s found only a “vague” reference to density bonuses that developers would get if providing a number of affordable units in its projects for a maximum of 10 years. Feinsod pushed for that time-frame to be longer but was out-numbered by his colleagues.
“There are things that can be done, but the reality of it is that I don’t think there is going to be any serious attempt to address this issue,” Feinsod said regarding the council’s approach to the city’s workforce housing needs. “I don’t believe it is a priority for the Venice City Council, and I think that is unfortunate.”
More than 16 miles to the southeast, in North Port, it’s a different story.
In early June, at a workshop on affordable housing, North Port city commissioners agreed to explore a broad range of possible solutions – from inclusionary zoning and incentives to tiny homes, shipping container houses and accessory dwelling units.
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North Port had a bit of a head start on affordable housing, Vice Mayor Barbara Langdon noted afterward. It started well before the price of land skyrocketed in the current boom, with developers having built about 10 communities with state low-income tax credits that allowed them to offer affordable units to families at 80 % AMI or lower for decades.
Another will open this summer and two more are in the queue, she said.
Still, even in North Port – formerly one of the most affordable places in the county – the pain of skyrocketing rents and home prices has reached a tipping point, prompting city leaders to take action.
“It’s hurting our businesses that are here,” Langdon said.
Just as important are its families.
“There is an unacceptable human toll, because so many workers are housed here,” she said. “So we feel an obligation to do something.”
Thaxton, the housing advocate at Gulf Coast Community Foundation, praised North Port for “setting a great example” for the region.
While heartened and hopeful that the area’s jurisdictions appear finally to be taking the affordable housing crisis to heart – floating proposals that could at last chart a new course – Thaxton warned that troubled waters remain ahead.
The area has yet to see the full impact of past inaction now compounded by a booming market, rising energy prices and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The housing crisis may deepen before it gets better, he forecasted.
“The worst is yet to come."
Herald-Tribune staff writer Earle Kimel contributed to this report.
This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.