The Commission has been addressing workforce and affordable housing issues peripherally since the September 24, 2014 Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee meeting in which the Administration was directed to pursue the development of affordable housing for residents earning 120 to 140 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) and employed in the public safety, education and municipal sectors. The affordable/workforce housing conversation continued in the Land Use and Development Committee meeting of April 20, 2016 and the Finance/Citywide Projects Committee meeting of November 18, 2016, among others. A Commission Workshop was requested to centralize this discussion.
Workforce housing refers to affordable housing intended for use by households comprised of employed members who live or desire to live in reasonable proximity to their workplace. Affordable housing, by definition, is any housing whose inhabitants pay no more than 30% of their household income for utilities and rent or mortgage for their residence. At its October 22, 2014 meeting, the City Commission defined the beneficiaries of workforce housing in our City as those earning 120 to 140 percent Area Median Income (AMI).
|
Family Size
|
80%
|
100%
|
120%
|
140%
|
|
1
|
$ 39,950
|
$ 49,937
|
$ 59,925
|
$ 69,912
|
|
2
|
$ 43,350
|
$ 54,187
|
$ 65,025
|
$ 75,862
|
|
3
|
$ 48,750
|
$ 60,937
|
$ 73,125
|
$ 85,312
|
|
4
|
$ 54,150
|
$ 67,687
|
$ 81,225
|
$ 94,762
|
Housing accessibility is a vital component in a community’s ability to retain its workforce. According to an April 14, 2014 article in The New York Times, the greater Miami area is one of the most expensive in the nation for renters. The typical household expends 43% of its household income to cover its housing costs. Further, the Center for Housing Policy reports that ours is “the most expensive metropolitan area in the country when housing and transportation costs were combined.”
While the median rent in the City has risen from $719 per month in 1990 to $1,088 in 2013, representing a 51 percent increase in one generation, the number of renter-occupied units has consistently decreased. According to data provided by the Office of Tourism, Culture and Economic Development, renter-occupied units fell from 41,238 in 1980 to 27,158 in 2013.
According to the Out of Reach 2014, an annual housing report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the national affordable housing wage (the income at which a person can afford a modest rental unit in his/her work market) is $18.92 per hour (or $39,353 annually). In South Florida, the affordable housing wage is $19.39 per hour (or $40,331).
Our community’s geographic and infrastructure limitations will require creative approaches to increase the availability of affordable workforce housing including the exploration of mixed use developments and the use multiple funding sources.