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Highlands Today

Habitat Takes Over Workforce Housing Project On MLK Blvd.

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: September 11, 2008

SEBRING - Highlands County was in danger of losing a $2.5 million state grant to help working families become homeowners.

Habitat for Humanity of Highlands County, though, is partnering with Highlands County government to keep the grant here and subsidize up to 100 "workforce" housing units.

Getting state approvals for the Ridgeview workforce housing project on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, near Arbuckle Creek Road, will take some time. But, county officials said, all signs so far are positive for keeping the $2.5 million in state housing-assistance in this county.

"I'd like to thank Habitat for stepping up," County Commissioner Barbara Stewart said at Tuesday's county commission meeting, at which commissioners gave preliminary endorsements for the project.

Highlands County's Housing Office had secured $2.5 million from the state's new Community Workforce Housing Innovative Pilot Program (CWHIP) to give subsidies of up to $50,000 to 50 families buying homes in the Ridgeview subdivision.

National Development Foundation Inc., a non-profit housing developer headquartered just outside Orlando, was scheduled to build 68 single-family "workforce" homes at Ridgeview. The organization, though, was unable to secure private financing to go forward with the project, according to Teresa Hofer, the county's acting housing director.

Without Habitat for Humanity replacing National Development Foundation and reviving the project, Stewart said, Highlands County probably would have lost the $2.5 million in housing-assistance.

Michael Jacobson, the new director of the county's Habitat for Humanity chapter, said Habitat has changed plans for the housing project. Instead of the proposed 68 single-family homes, Jacobson said, Habitat plans to build 100 multi-family housing units, along with some commercial development on the site.

The 68 units would be two-story townhouses, with four of them attached side by side in each building, Jacobson said. The $2.5 million state grant, from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, would be distributed to lower the prices on the townhouses for eligible buyers.

Ridgeview is planned on about 20 acres on the east side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a few hundred yards south of Arbuckle Creek Road. In about a week, Jacobson said, Habitat should have "some really neat drawings" of the townhouses proposed for the site.

"Our objective at Habitat is to bring poverty to a halt," Jacobson said, and one key to doing that is helping working people become homeowners.

Families, or individuals, earning up to 140 percent of the county's median family income can obtain a subsidy from the CWHIP grant to lower the price of a home at Ridgeview, Hofer said.

The current median income for a family of four in Highlands County is $41,600.

CWHIP rules require that 80 percent of the state subsidies go to families with at least one member working in "essential" occupations, which include teachers, city and county government workers, public safety workers, medical workers, and people working for utilities or in building trades.

Up to 20 percent of the housing subsidies can go to people who meet the income requirements but are not working in "essential" occupations, Hofer said.

"Habitat does have a waiting list (for homes), and they could put everybody on their waiting list into those (Ridgeview) units," Hofer said.

Jacobson said more details about Habitat's plans will be released as he meets in the near future with local community leaders and county and state officials.

The county commissioners, who expressed support for the project Tuesday, would have to approve a rezoning and a comprehensive plan amendment, which would then have to be approved by state officials.

A public hearing on the proposed land-use changes will probably be held in October, after the project is reviewed by the county's Planning and Zoning Commission, said Jim Polatty, county development services director.

Jacobson said Habitat for Humanity officials and volunteers are "delighted" at having the chance to build what he called a "world class" affordable housing project, for which there is "a great need in this county."

"All lights are green," Jacobson said when asked by Stewart how state officials have reacted so far to Habitat's preliminary plans for this project. CWHIP was designed to encourage innovative projects to make new housing affordable for working people, he said, and this project will do that.

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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