Okaloosa County opens survey for public input on improving workforce housing

Collin Bestor, Northwest Florida Daily News
Updated ·1 min read
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Editor's note: This story has been revised to clarify when the County Commission expects to receive the final report.

SHALIMAR — Okaloosa County is seeking your help.

In March, the County Commission began using a consulting group, TPMA, to develop an attainable workforce housing strategy. As part of that process, the county has opened an online survey to better understand public opinion on issues such as housing affordability, needs and types of development.

Issues affecting housing

In a strategic plan laid out by Board Chairman Trey Goodwin in March, he cited the following reasons for why the cost of housing has risen "significantly."

  • Supply chain and production interruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Lack of available land because of the surrounding Eglin reservation has made space a commodity. This has also brought development in the county's North end, which is also seeing prices for new and existing homes rise.

  • State concurrency and growth management laws require the allocation of infrastructure at the time of development.

  • Increased costs if a home is located in flood hazard areas.

“Hearing from our residents is a critical component of our planning efforts to address affordable housing in Okaloosa County,” Goodwin said in a statement. “We want to address housing needs for all of our residents, including working families, by enhancing our housing inventory and identifying additional strategies that address this issue.”

Survey details

According to the county, no personal information will be transferred to city or county departments, staff or elected officials. All data collected in the survey will be used as an aggregate and will have full anonymity.

The survey opened Wednesday will be available to all members of the public through Sept. 4. To take the survey, visit https://www.surveylegend.com/s/52wj.

All information will be included in a final report to the County Commission at a later date.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County wants public input on improving housing situation