Flooding, affordable housing top priorities for FAITH group

Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
·5 min read

PORT ORANGE — As Tropical Storm Ian was blasting through Volusia County in September, Virginia Bennett was trying to drive home when she unwittingly motored straight into the worst flooding in Daytona Beach around Nova Road and International Speedway Boulevard.

Bennett's car stalled, and she had to be rescued from the rising floodwater. When she finally made it to her South Daytona home, she found nearly a foot of murky water sloshing around inside her house.

Arlisa Pertiller has been navigating a different type of nightmare. She and her five children have been living in rental houses with leaking roofs, malfunctioning electricity and air conditioners, bats, insect infestations, and rats.

Bennett and Pertiller, and the thousands of other Volusia County residents who have been battling similar problems, are the reason why the FAITH group has chosen to focus on flooding and affordable housing in the year ahead.

More than 1,000 people packed into Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange Monday night for the FAITH group's annual action assembly. In the upcoming year, FAITH wants to focus on reducing flooding and expanding affordable housing.
More than 1,000 people packed into Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange Monday night for the FAITH group's annual action assembly. In the upcoming year, FAITH wants to focus on reducing flooding and expanding affordable housing.

"They are the twin evils of problems, but if we all work together we can get there," Jackie Mole told the crowd that packed inside Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange Monday night for FAITH's annual action assembly.

Bennett and Pertiller were among nearly two dozen speakers at the FAITH rally.

Mole, who's with Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal church in Daytona Beach, got a standing ovation from the more than 1,000 FAITH members who are ready to get to work on expanding the county's affordable housing stock and mitigating floods.

Flooding help heading to Daytona Beach:After 15 years of trying, Daytona Beach getting $3 million for flood mitigation study

Persistent Daytona Beach flooding:Low elevation makes Daytona's Midtown vulnerable to chronic flooding

Affordable housing top FAITH priority:Affordable housing, civil citations for kids discussed at annual FAITH rally

FAITH is a nonprofit organization comprised of 30 theologically and racially diverse religious congregations in Volusia County. The 23-year-old organization zeroes in on what it considers to be the most pressing community problems, and then persistently urges local elected officials to take action that will remedy those problems.

FAITH was a key player in getting Daytona Beach's First Step Shelter built and has also been involved in youth criminal justice and other issues.

Flooding and affordable housing strategies

FAITH is hoping to convince local elected officials to create affordable housing trust funds and impose linkage fees on residential and commercial development to create a revenue source for the construction of low-cost housing.

Daytona Beach has already done a study on linkage fees, and the study recommended charging $5 – $7 per square foot on commercial development and $10 – $15 per square foot on new residential development. Daytona Beach city commissioners are holding a workshop meeting Wednesday evening to discuss linkage fees.

Arlisa Pertiller told the crowd at Monday's annual FAITH action assembly about the struggle she's had with subpar rental housing that has lacked heat and air conditioning, and has exposed her and her five children to rats, bats and insects.
Arlisa Pertiller told the crowd at Monday's annual FAITH action assembly about the struggle she's had with subpar rental housing that has lacked heat and air conditioning, and has exposed her and her five children to rats, bats and insects.

FAITH members also want local governments to try to get a piece of the $244.9 million in the Resilient Florida grant program that can be used for infrastructure improvements that could ease flooding problems. A dozen local governments are already taking steps to apply for the grant money.

More than 64,000 properties in Volusia County are considered to be at high risk for severe flooding over the next 30years. That represents 35% of all Volusia County properties.

A property is deemed to be high-risk if it has a 26% or greater chance of flooding.

In the past decade, Volusia County has had six 100-year-storm events, which is at least 13 inches of rain within a 24-hour period. Volusia County has also had three 500-year-storm events in the past 10 years, which is at least 18 inches of rain within a 24-hour period.

FAITH had a committee that studied flooding for the past two years. They concluded Volusia County needs updated flood forecasting to determine who's at high risk and who should get flood insurance.

They want local governments to do flood vulnerability assessments, update their flood maps, and identify their infrastructure's weakest points.

FAITH also wants local governments to incentivize new development that makes flood mitigation a priority, and publicize their stormwater maintenance schedules.

After Tropical Storm Ian was done thrashing Florida in late September and pushed out into the Atlantic Ocean, Daytona Beach's Midtown neighborhood remained under water for days. Pictured is Nova Road looking north and the Midtown neighborhood to its east still swimming in floodwater surrounding the two-story Gardens of Daytona apartment buildings and one-story Caroline Village public housing units.

At the beginning of March, Congress approved spending $3 million to fully fund a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works study that will jumpstart planning and design for critical stormwater and flood protection projects in Daytona Beach. The federal government is providing all $3 million for the study, which is expected to begin this spring.

The approval for that funding and the study all but guarantees there will be tens of millions of dollars more coming out of Washington, D.C., for projects that will help restore and rebuild Daytona Beach's infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of flooding.

Estimates for the work needed in Daytona Beach alone run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Daytona Beach, state and federal leaders had been trying for 15 years to line up funding for an Army Corps of Engineers flood mitigation study.

Most elected officials skip FAITH rally

A lot of what the FAITH group wants to do to tackle flooding and housing problems relies on the seven Daytona Beach City Commission members and the seven Volusia County Council members. All 14 were invited to Monday night's action assembly, but only Mayor Derrick Henry showed up.

Daytona Beach City Commissioner Ken Strickland did meet with FAITH members prior to the assembly, and he answered their questions in a conversation that was recorded and played Monday night.

Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry was one of only two elected officials who attended Monday night's FAITH annual action assembly at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange. The other elected official at the meeting was Wendy Anderson, chair of the Volusia Soil & Water Conservation District.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry was one of only two elected officials who attended Monday night's FAITH annual action assembly at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange. The other elected official at the meeting was Wendy Anderson, chair of the Volusia Soil & Water Conservation District.

Henry and Strickland are both supportive of the approaches FAITH wants to take to create more affordable housing. City Commissioner Monica Paris talked to FAITH members in recent weeks, and City Commissioners Stacy Cantu and Paula Reed said they'll talk to FAITH members in the near future.

Two speakers Monday night voiced their disappointment with the elected officials who skipped the two-hour action assembly.

"Ignoring the problem does not mean it, or FAITH, will go away," said the Rev. Phil Egitto, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. "We will not be ignored."

Pedro Dash, who's with Tubman King Community Church in Daytona Beach, was also unhappy with the extremely low turnout of elected officials.

"That's a total lack of respect for every one of us here," Dash said. "Please remember this when it's time to vote."

You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County's flooding and housing problems top priority for FAITH