By By Matt Hoffmann, WCTV
The Leon County Commission is considering a proposal to divert funding from road improvement projects into affordable housing.
During a commission meeting Tuesday, county commissioners voted to authorize staff to analyze the proposal, which was proposed by the Capital Area Justice Ministry (CAJM).
The vote comes after CAJM announced that they were planning to call on county commissioners to reallocate nearly $1.2 million yearly for affordable housing. However, that money is already allocated for road improvements.
“However, and we know that when there is a will, there is a way to be creative to get more things accomplished,” said Rev Dr Latricia Scriven. “And we think that finding affordable housing for members of our community should be at the top of that list.”
If CAJM’s proposal is approved, county commissioners would move the road money from road projects to housing projects.
Their plan is fairly simple and based on a program in Pinellas County. Leon County would buy land each year and lease it on the cheap to a developer.
In exchange, the developer would build a certain number of affordable units for both low income and “extremely low” income.
“And that’s so important because the affordable housing that has been built in the area has been for the 82%, 100% of the median income and we’re talking about people at 30 to 50,” said Rev Dr. Robert Gibbs. “And they are spending more than half of their income on rent.”
The reallocation was almost passed at a previous Blueprint meeting. Blueprint is a sales tax authority whose dollars are controlled by a joint board of all county and city commissioners.
While most of that tax goes to Blueprint, some goes to the county directly. Because five county commissioners who sit on Blueprint were supportive, CJAM believes they’ll have better luck with Leon County.
“Yes, people showed up because they care,” said Scriven. “They care that there are over 16,000 families in our community that are struggling to find affordable housing specifically for those with very low and extremely low income.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, CJAM representatives were asked why the City of Tallahassee hasn’t agreed to a similar program. Gibbs tells WCTV they’ve tried to get their program passed by city commissioners for the past few years, but haven’t had any luck.
CJAM hopes to prove the program will work with the county first, which could convince the city to join on.
View the original story here.
