We've only scratched the surface on workforce housing

It’s good news our Collier County commissioners addressed some key issues involving workforce housing. They did so because you made them do it! You called and wrote to commissioners and attended their town hall and government meetings. You demanded action and we got it!This past year we have witnessed a public awakening to this crisis impacting our essential workers, and ultimately felt by all of us. The de facto minimum wage has climbed in less than three years, from $8.50/hour to over $17. Still this is only $35,000 per year -- an amount no one can afford to live on in Collier County. It’s why over 50,000 of our workers spend up to three hours a day traveling from other counties to and from their jobs here.How does this affect us? That’s simple -- higher prices for everything, along with reduced quality of service everywhere. Our health care providers, schools, restaurants and even local governments continue to lose workers at a pace faster than they can hire them. And the workers they are losing have years of training.Let’s quickly celebrate the zoning changes our commissioners implemented last month. They were originally proposed by the consultants Urban Land Institute in 2017, so long overdue.Let’s also applaud the rules my former committee proposed and the commissioners adopted, so the $20 million earmarked for workforce land purchases can begin. This has been waiting since 2018 when the surtax referendum was passed.Finally, kudos to our Senator Passidomo for spearheading the state’s new “Live Local” law. This will also help. But the problem is not solved. The crisis is not ended.Unless we continue to make changes, developers of affordable housing will continue to ignore Collier County. We need to recognize how expensive our land is. Businesses must be allowed to earn a satisfactory profit or they will build elsewhere.Collier County has about the highest impact fees in the state, and a broken deferral program. Many other Florida counties are waiving impact fees for affordable housing -- we must do the same.We are also seeing other cities and counties utilizing bond funds to acquire land, along with donating excess land to local land trusts. We do not want our government running housing projects. We’ve seen this practice fail in every major city. But our county’s wealth and borrowing power can offset the cost of land, and move us to the top of the list of most desirable places to build. These are easy decisions, if our commissioners simply agree they truly want to address these problems.There is another item on which it is urgently important we keep focused. There’s some math involved, but it’s important, so you need to keep reading this column.You all know we live in one of the wealthiest parts of the country. But do you realize the impact this has on workforce housing?Every county in the country gets its area median income (“AMI”) published by HUD. In Collier County this is over $98,000, nearly the highest in the state. Of course this doesn’t reflect what our essential workers really earn,  but it does impact what they will pay in rent.Affordable housing, by definition, includes earnings levels up to 120% AMI. What does this mean? A landlord agreeing to rent to a family earning over $100,000, at a monthly cost of over $2,500, is deemed to be providing affordable housing. As the expression goes, the devil is in the details.So it isn’t good enough if our commissioners achieve so called affordable housing, if they are only housing individuals and families earning six figures a year. Of course we want these folks in these subdivisions, but we must continue to remember our other essential workers who are earning at the 30%, 50% and 80% AMI levels. These include our schoolteachers, deputies, contractors, waiters and almost all of our other essential workers. We must be careful to require that OUR affordable housing have significant numbers of units reserved for folks at ALL income levels.Please don’t relax the pressure we have created on our elected leaders. We’ve truly started on the path to solve this crisis. We need to maintain the momentum. Pat yourselves on your backs, and then get back to work writing and calling your commissioners and attending their meetings.

Joe Trachtenberg is former chairman of the Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: We've only scratched the surface on workforce housing