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We need affordable housing for young families- the Work Force !! They can’t afford to live and work here anymore.
How much are you willing to pay each month to help them out?
If employers raise wages, you'll have to pay more for goods & services...are you okay with that?
How do you know they'll apply the money given to them for housing won't be spent on anything else? Like booze, drugs, cell phones, cable tv, eating out?
How do you know they'll keep trying to make more money, so you don't have to supplement them forever?
Or, should the government just tell you how much you must pay for their housing, & have the state make direct payments to the landord, & force them to work harder to make more, and get more training/education?
Its easy for us all to lament about the problem, but asking ourselves the hard questions to help solve it, isn't nearly as easy.
To those who say that is what gov't is for...what hapens if gov't comes up with a solution that is unpopular, or doesnt work too well?
What to do with those who simply refuse to work hard? Do they keep getting our money? If not, do we allow them to remain in or area...homeless? That's what they are doing in San Fran, & its causing lots of problems.
Bottom line is that housing the working class near where they are needed, must be paid for by the rest of us, and many don't want to pay.
Florida restaurants, hotels etc generally make higher profits and pay lower wages than other states. Individuals should avoid lower paying places and go to ones that treat their employees better if possible.
The main issue is zoning. Trailer parks used to be popular in Florida but there's too much hurricane damage. Recently the counties have gotten a lot of small apartments approved that are being built in punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, north Port, Venice etc. For now the rent is high. Maybe it will come down as the market gets a lot of them.
Wages have also come up in the area, especially at fast food and low paying places and voters passed a higher minimum wage which is going to $15. Though high inflation is eating into some of that which is more related to them printing stimulus money than to higher wages.
They are working on it. Several groups are buying empty lots to keep them wild and not built on. Public transportation I think is a big problem with the clogged up roads which I don't see much being done. They recently expanded a lot of roads but growth is out pacing the expansions.
Florida restaurants, hotels etc generally make higher profits and pay lower wages than other states. Individuals should avoid lower paying places and go to ones that treat their employees better if possible.
The main issue is zoning. Trailer parks used to be popular in Florida but there's too much hurricane damage. Recently the counties have gotten a lot of small apartments approved that are being built in punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, north Port, Venice etc. For now the rent is high. Maybe it will come down as the market gets a lot of them.
Wages have also come up in the area, especially at fast food and low paying places and voters passed a higher minimum wage which is going to $15. Though high inflation is eating into some of that which is more related to them printing stimulus money than to higher wages.
They are working on it. Several groups are buying empty lots to keep them wild and not built on. Public transportation I think is a big problem with the clogged up roads which I don't see much being done. They recently expanded a lot of roads but growth is out pacing the expansions.
I was shocked in Ian how they fared in the wind. I'm not talking flooding from surge or rain. That park in Englewood/Placida got shredded in Ian, there is video of it, but us in Punta Gorda that got more like cat3 winds they held up pretty well.
I'm thinking stricter codes now is why they did a lot better. I was really shocked.
A lot of the manufactured homes around here are snowbirds, Canadians who own them.
How much are you willing to pay each month to help them out?
If employers raise wages, you'll have to pay more for goods & services...are you okay with that?
How do you know they'll apply the money given to them for housing won't be spent on anything else? Like booze, drugs, cell phones, cable tv, eating out?
How do you know they'll keep trying to make more money, so you don't have to supplement them forever?
Or, should the government just tell you how much you must pay for their housing, & have the state make direct payments to the landord, & force them to work harder to make more, and get more training/education?
Its easy for us all to lament about the problem, but asking ourselves the hard questions to help solve it, isn't nearly as easy.
To those who say that is what gov't is for...what hapens if gov't comes up with a solution that is unpopular, or doesnt work too well?
What to do with those who simply refuse to work hard? Do they keep getting our money? If not, do we allow them to remain in or area...homeless? That's what they are doing in San Fran, & its causing lots of problems.
Bottom line is that housing the working class near where they are needed, must be paid for by the rest of us, and many don't want to pay.
Depends on what you define workforce. People with college degrees, and careers, or skilled trades, or workers working fast food jobs, low end service or waiter jobs. I don't consider waiters really workforce. Hard to survive just on that unless it's a high end place. Waiters, retail is more for college students.
Depends on what you define workforce. People with college degrees, and careers, or skilled trades, or workers working fast food jobs, low end service or waiter jobs. I don't consider waiters really workforce. Hard to survive just on that unless it's a high end place. Waiters, retail is more for college students.
By "workforce", I mean workers who make near median incomes, or below. Median household income in FLA is ~$58k. 2 can live cheaper than 1, but even so, $60k is tough to get by on in most of the densely populated areas w/in 30 mins. of the beach, which is where most service-sector jobs are.
If a dual income couple have no kids (DINC's), & no consumer debt, they can get by on $60k if they have a job w/ healthcare benefits. Couples that have children & consumer debt, or no healthcare, are getting pinched by housing costs here, & are likely turning to plan "B".
There are no jobs in Florida that pay a living wage unless you are in the medical field like a nurse, work for tips like a waiter or own your own business.
In Cincinnati where cost of living is far lower a dishwasher made $14, factory $15 starting, construction helper $20.
Florida dishwasher is $10 but usually they steal hours off your check so it's below minimum wage like $6. No factories. Construction is unbearable sunburn and heat stroke for $15. And working 40 hours a week at really hard jobs usually not enough money to rent a room out of someone's house.
And after going through all that to live there the weather usually sucks too hot all the time and not much to do. Just a bunch of old people and dope heads that fish all the time.
Waiters are the only ones that make good money but it's almost entirely female. They take in about $30 an hour due to tips at most places. More in some.
These numbers are from some years back just use bigger numbers now due to inflation. Florida is one of the worst states to live in but they get away with it because the idiots keep coming. I'm over the road trucking now and working on getting out of hell. I was just raised in this third world type of state where you are doomed to live in poverty if working here. I don't want to work a full time job and live homeless anymore. Nor do I want to be constantly sick from sunburn, heatstroke, sun poisoning etc then be told the place is paradise by people who sit indoors in air conditioning all day. The place is like a mental asylum. Nobody in their right mind would move there unless they are retired, a doctor or lawyer or able to own a business and exploit others with low wages.
There are no jobs in Florida that pay a living wage unless you are in the medical field like a nurse, work for tips like a waiter or own your own business.
In Cincinnati where cost of living is far lower a dishwasher made $14, factory $15 starting, construction helper $20.
Florida dishwasher is $10 but usually they steal hours off your check so it's below minimum wage like $6. No factories. Construction is unbearable sunburn and heat stroke for $15. And working 40 hours a week at really hard jobs usually not enough money to rent a room out of someone's house.
And after going through all that to live there the weather usually sucks too hot all the time and not much to do. Just a bunch of old people and dope heads that fish all the time.
Waiters are the only ones that make good money but it's almost entirely female. They take in about $30 an hour due to tips at most places. More in some.
These numbers are from some years back just use bigger numbers now due to inflation. Florida is one of the worst states to live in but they get away with it because the idiots keep coming. I'm over the road trucking now and working on getting out of hell. I was just raised in this third world type of state where you are doomed to live in poverty if working here. I don't want to work a full time job and live homeless anymore. Nor do I want to be constantly sick from sunburn, heatstroke, sun poisoning etc then be told the place is paradise by people who sit indoors in air conditioning all day. The place is like a mental asylum. Nobody in their right mind would move there unless they are retired, a doctor or lawyer or able to own a business and exploit others with low wages.
Waiters can make good money in tourist locations and such but it's hard on your body to do it full time as you get older.
I notice the ones who move out of FL tend to be the ones from the lower midwest and the South. They're moving to places like Georgia, South Carolina where the weather is cooler but not fridged. Due to less crowds and cheaper cost.
I will probably end up moving back to Missouri eventually, but far southern Missouri where the winter weather is pretty mild or even far northern Arkansas around a lake. Just stay inside the few days there is ice or snow. Branson weather is very tolerable. Similar to Nashville TN weather. And less crowds too in the Ozarks and very conservative in those areas. I can even open carry if I like in Missouri or Arkansas.
Despite pushback from residents of the nearby Alta Vista and Arlington Park neighborhoods, City of Sarasota commissioners voted 4-1 yesterday, in a final vote, in favor of rezoning the former Doctors Hospital site on the corner of Tuttle Avenue and Bahia Vista. This paves the way for the owner, Bahia Vista Associates, to build a new, four-story, 250-unit apartment building there.
The development on the 6.09-acre site depended on the vote, which allows higher density in exchange for the inclusion of affordable units. Bahia Vista Apartments will be the first example of the city’s move to incentivize affordable housing by providing density bonuses for developers along some urban corridors. Of the 250 dwelling units proposed for the site, a minimum of 25 of the dwelling units would have to be designated as affordable. In this case, the developer is including 35.
At a previous meeting, on Jan. 17, opponents of the project cited inconsistency with the comprehensive plan, incompatibility with nearby residential neighborhoods, traffic impacts, safety, noise and light pollution, and a decrease in home values.
However, Jon Thaxton of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, a longtime affordable housing advocate, supported the project, stating, “The site is clearly contemplated for a use other than single-family and the site is an ideal location for affordable housing.”
Last edited by wondermint2; 04-19-2023 at 09:54 AM..
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
4,612 posts, read 7,529,570 times
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In March of this year Gov. DeSantis signed Senate Bill 102, also called the “Live Local Act,” into law. The bill has several provisions to address workforce housing, to increase affordable housing solutions for Florida workers that want to live where they work.
In addition, the bill includes an additional $100 million in funding that will be available starting July 1, 2023, for the Hometown Heroes housing assistance program.
What is the Hometown Heroes program?
The Hometown Heroes program is a housing assistance initiative started in 2022 to assist local community workers with down payment and closing cost assistance for purchasing a primary residence. Since 2022, the program has assisted nearly 3,500 individuals in purchasing a home and awarded more than $50 million in down payment and closing cost assistance.
Qualifying professions include educators, healthcare professionals such as nurses, law enforcement officers, firefighters, childcare employees, active duty military or veterans.
Eligible buyers can also qualify for lower than market rates on FHA, VA, Freddie Mac, or Fannie Mae first mortgage loans, reduced upfront fees and discounted or no origination points on mortgages.
The problem with affordable housing relates to wages being too low and welfare being too high. I worked for close to minimum wages and lived in cheap housing in Cincinnati. The problem was 90% of the people living in those places don't have a job. Almost everyone got disability even young strong people. And they have nothing to do but drink, get high, sell drugs. Some of them keep to themselves. But nobody wants to live around affordable housing because it doesn't fill up with workers it fills up with welfare people.
And while I struggled to pay my bills people on welfare made twice as much as me or even ten times as much for not working.
A typical welfare mom with six kids gets a $20,000 tax return every year even though they don't work. $1,200 a month food stamps which they sell half of it because they also get wic. Usually they get section 8 so 75% of their rent is paid. So on and so forth.
Or someone on disability their check would be $800 a month if they never paid in which is the same as I made working full time back then. But they get free medical care. $$150 a month food stamps, free bus tokens, along with other benefits and can even work part time legally or work under the table.
That's why I support universal income. If you give food stamps to crack heads give it to everyone so you aren't incentivizing bad behavior. The more irresponsible they behave the more the government and churches help them. So if you commit a felony it opens the door to more benefits. Smoke meth while pregnant you get twice the welfare check for a disabled kid and so on. Our government is either stupid or America is designed to fail on purpose. It all comes from the policies.
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