Broward County residents are continuing to pay more for housing than they should be and it is constantly increasing. In a report issued by Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center, a large number of renters are spending half of their income on their housing. The report shows that Broward County is in need of lower-cost housing for the future.
WLRN interviewed Broward County’s Director of Housing Finance and Community Redevelopment, Ralph Stone. Ralph has the responsibility of overseeing housing programs and advises the commissioners of the county on what needs to happen to make the cost of living more affordable in the county.
Broward County had conducted a study about the affordable housing issues from data taken from 2014. Since then, there has been an increase in demand for affordable housing. The county continues to be the worst-case situations when it comes to affordable housing. Residents in the county fall into two categories: cost-burdened and severely cost-burdened. If they are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, they are considered to be cost-burdened. When residents are spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing, they move into the severely cost-burdened category.
The conditions are inordinately high compared to other counties. Residents that don’t make a moderate income can struggle with over 70 percent of their income being used towards housing and transportation costs. It happens to be one of the worst in the nation. Only 13 percent of Broward County residents can afford to buy a house. The problem comes from the median home price being the highest in the country at $350,000. Add in the wages in the area being low and you have your answer as to why only 13 percent can buy a house.
With the majority of workers in the area being low-wage service employees, it is hard to expect any change in wage increasing. More jobs in that sector are opening up which means affordable housing is going to become even more of a necessity. In a service economy, there isn’t much room for higher wage jobs because it is primarily hospitality, retail, and food services.
The government is taking certain steps to help alleviate the stress of people paying too much of their incomes on housing. The government has received three grants to provide people with extra funds to buy a house or to provide gap financing to build new multi-family developments. Though it is frustrating to think there may be no end to the affordable housing crisis, the government is creating new projects to try and negate the stress it can bring to people looking for affordable housing.