View from my dining room window
Affordable Housing Solutions, LLC bought 3.3730 acres at the corner of Boutwell and Lake Worth Roads in February of 2013. They paid $2,250,000, an astounding price when you consider that the last sale in April 2003 was $750,000. Just fourteen years ago the same property sold for $250,000.
Our newly "elected" commission voted in this affordable 216 unit rental project called The Villages of Lake Worth. Although it is the same, they deny that this is "affordable" housing because the developer is calling it "workforce" housing which promotes a better and more acceptable image. He is charging $900 for a one bedroom. When people think of affordable housing projects, they think the recipients are moochers who are getting something for nothing. If you call it workforce housing, they think of nurses and police officers. Marketing is everything.
This commission has voted in more low cost housing projects than any other in the history of Lake Worth---all for a supposed tax base. They call this economic development and instinctively assume that prosperity and jobs will follow this development and that any development is the long-term answer.
The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL HUD Metro FMR Area is made up of the following:
Palm Beach County, FL.
FY2014 Fair Market Rent Summary according to HUD
| Palm Beach County, Florida | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | 1 Bedroom | 2 Bedrooms | 3 Bedrooms | 4 Bedrooms | |
| Final FY2014 FMRs | $750 | $962 | $1,202 | $1,623 | $1,938 |
they
instinctively assume that prosperity and jobs must be the long-term
answer. - See more at:
http://ir.blogs.ie.edu/2014/01/29/growth-and-globalisation-cannot-cure-all-the-worlds-ills/#sthash.qOlH5uVB.dpuf
I worry that they are just adding to the slum and blight that will breed more crime and have sold the city down the river to more despair. This could be the start of big problems in my neighborhood area, a neighborhood that has been in existence for close to 60 years and one that has been relatively quiet when it comes to crime.
A view from my living-room window.
This was another corrupt decision by people who didn't have backbones and this commission has used the pitiful proceeds from this bad decision for everything but its intended use. Resolutions are as good as the paper on which they are written or the memories of the people for whom they serve.
You are right! We need balance and for every low income/worforce housing that is built, they need to approve upscale high income residential housing, we have too many rental in this city, renters for the most part do not have a vested interest as much to keep their places looking nice, that is why this city is a dump. We need more homeowners owning in Lake Worth, we need more high-income upscale housing also built. A little gentrification is good for us and needed, especially in our poor blighted little city of mostly renters. Thanks Lynn, stay on this!
ReplyDeleteYou should have done something with your life instead of complaining all the time and depending on others. You would have been able to afford a better view.
ReplyDeleteI had a fine view until this commission screwed it up. The solution in this city is if you don't like something then "move." Not a solution. You like a bunch of Section 8 about to happen? You like it that a commission got to change the zoning in an industrial park to attract low-cost rentals? You're sort of alone in this unless you count all the other socialists.
ReplyDelete12:27 obviously you are a loser. You are one sicko bully baby with brain cells not yet developed. This is about an entire area of the city that will be affected. It's not about lynn. What a total *&^%$. that word sgtarts with an I and ends with a T.
ReplyDeleteLynn if I am not mistaken it was not This Commission that voted for the Billboards.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. It was Jeff Clemens. However, it is this commission that has voted to spend the settlement money. I would seriously doubt if we have any of the $1.2 mil left.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it or why they want more rentals, low cost ones at that. They do realize it will bring problems,don't they? Seriously are they that out of tune or just in bed with developers and the CRA project down there on the railroad tracks? Even Retha couldn't stop that one.
ReplyDeleteThey want rentals because they pay property taxes.
ReplyDeleteNo double homestead exceptions for people that own rental property.
Not if they are a 501 type of corporation they won't be paying taxes. Who's to say they won't flip their corp to protect themselves from paying taxes just like Ramiccio did years ago on the chamber of commerce building?
ReplyDeleteThis is a multi million dollar rental project being built in our city. Not one person appeared before the P and Z Board to object to the project. The land was zoned multi family and has been for years. The owners run several of these projects in other cities near us and they were checked out by one of our board members who actually went to one of them and spoke with some folks who reported that they ran a well run complex and were good neighbors. I too wish that we could have had a retail store at this location like Target but the fact is we can't stop someone from building a rental complex if the land is zoned for it. This is not low income housing as two bedroom units will rent for over $1000 a month. The folks who will live here will hopefully one day buy homes and may decide to live in our city. They will also shop in our stores and eat in our restaurants. There is a plus side. But I do agree our number one priority should be to protect our neighborhoods and restore the value of our homes.
ReplyDeleteJohn, when we the people, that's you, John, are paying $700 of the $900 rent per month then guess what, John, it's low-income affordable housing. Scott Maxwell, Pam Triolo, and Andy Amoroso ran on the platform of bringing more single family ownership into this town. Instead, they have ushered in the new LW ghetto Renaissance, and thank to these three, more low-income housing than at any time in our city's history.
ReplyDeleteWhere did $700 a month come from. $900 plus dollars a month is not low income housing. I have friends that live in a very nice rental complex on the Intracostal in Palm Beach Gardens and they pay the same rent for a one bedroom.
ReplyDeleteHey John, you bitch about having to look at over-grown Mangroves. You have a lot of nerve with someone with a legitimate complaint with future ghetto housing in their neighborhood. Why didn't you on the P&Z protect the industrial/commercial zoning in our park of commerce when you were approving of the LDR's? Do you understand what the word "commerce" means?
ReplyDeleteWell, anonymous at 10:20, HUD says it IS low-income rental housing. Didn't you read the blog?
ReplyDeleteTo Anon at 10:50: let me repeat the fact that not one person objected to the zoning for this property or the approval of this complex. We heard from a few neighbors across the street from the complex who were concerned about traffic and we addressed their concerns. No one else said a word in opposition, including you. I personally don't see how this complex hurts the city. Do you honestly think we would be better off keeping the land vacant. As for the mangroves that are destroying our views of the water this is affecting not just me but everyone else that would like to walk down the street, play golf and see the water. These were suppose to be maintained by someone. They are now proposing to put more along the sea wall of Bryant park and that will have the same impact on our waterfront park. They also provide a great place for drunks to hide etc. Most of our residents are opposed to them. It's not just me.
ReplyDeleteJohn, 99% of people have no idea what is happening in the city. Most of the time it is from no fault of their own. Even when you do speak up or out, it is rare that an idea or an objection can reverse the item. People where I live are asking, "What in the heck is going up there?" I have to then explain it is 216 workforce housing rentals. It is not sitting well with folks here.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that I want to see mangroves hiding our waterfront at Bryant Park. No way. I heard that there is great opposition but you will probably get them anyway.