The Future of Housing in Palm Beach Gardens

by Joann Skaria

With a harmonious mix of attractive homes, employment opportunities, and numerous recreation and retail services, all nestled into a verdant landscape, the City of Palm Beach Gardens has been a desirable community to call home for decades. Having a robust housing stock has always been a key component of this appeal. In 1962, a “Parade of Homes” event was held where local home builders displayed model homes for families to tour and purchase. Tis became an annual event for many years. The City experienced a housing boom around that time and was one of the fastest growing new cities in the nation.

Today, with over 30,000 residential dwelling units in the City, over 50,000 residents call the City of Palm Beach Gardens home. The primary home type is detached single-family homes that are owner occupied. Approximately 35% of the City’s residential units are multifamily, providing some variety in housing types. The median sales price of a single-family home is $504,500, and median rental price is $2,500 per month. Tough the Area Median Income (AMI) in the City of Palm Beach Gardens is quite high at $81,508 (2019), the costs of housing are escalating at a much higher pace than salaries and wages are rising, resulting in significant cost burden for certain residents. Housing cost burden is defined as when a household’s housing costs exceed 30% of their income. There is a gap between what the average family can afford to pay, and the cost of the available housing supply. Workers with incomes at this level may include teachers, nurses, utility and public workers, and entry-level professionals.

The City prides itself on a high level of service, and a low tax rate, and in order to keep services high and taxes low, a thriving local economy is necessary. The City has been fortunate to be home to significant economic engines over the years, from RCA Corporation and PGA National in the early days, to the Gardens Mall, to a currently booming office hub along PGA Boulevard, most recently punctuated with the completion of the DiVosta Towers. The medical and technology industry clusters are continuing to grow as well. But in order to continue to attract high quality employment, services must be provided, such as transportation and mobility systems, and housing. Many successful local economies around the nation have experienced unprecedented economic growth, leaving a lack of housing options for the employees. Tis results in people being cost burdened or selecting housing that is further from their employment, requiring significantly longer commutes and resulting in negative environmental impacts. In fact, only 11% of Palm Beach Gardens residents are employed in the City. A variety of housing options is an essential component of a thriving local economy. Corporations and small businesses alike require safe, convenient, and attainable housing options for all their employees. Providing for diversity in the City’s housing stock is necessary to maintain the City’s high quality of life.

This brings an excellent opportunity to the City to provide more attainable options when purchasing or renting a home. This goal has successfully been accomplished in many municipalities through implementation of a workforce housing program. The City has embraced this opportunity by recently adopting its first Workforce Housing Program. Many workforce housing units are seamlessly incorporated into new multi-family or single-family developments. The term “Workforce Housing” is for households with incomes ranging from 60% to 120% of the City’s AMI, and as mentioned previously, the City of Palm Beach Gardens has relatively high AMI at $81,508. While the City has always been mindful of incorporating workforce housing components in many of the developments such as Alton, Avenir, and Solera, and even dating back to the development of the Gardens Mall, a comprehensive program for housing was not in place until the recent creation of the Workforce Housing Program.

Planning toward the goal of providing a more affordable option for ownership or renting in our City, and prior to the creation of the City’s Workforce Housing Program, recent development projects have allowed monetary contributions toward workforce housing purposes, such as Avenir and the Arcadia Gardens Independent Living Facility. Tis will provide a total of over five million dollars in contributions to the City toward workforce housing in 2021, and the Workforce Housing Program enables the City to best allocate these resources.

As part of the process for creation of the Workforce Housing Program, the City hired a consultant, Robert Gray with Strategic Planning Group, who specializes in the preparation of these types of programs. Gray conducted an extensive assessment and analysis of the existing housing market both within the City limits, as well as in the northern Palm Beach County region, and produced a report that provided recommendations for solutions to address the City’s housing concerns. City staff worked closely with the consultant to tailor the recommended solutions to fit the unique character and local culture of the City with an emphasis on smart and appropriate solutions. Additionally, staff is cognizant that in order for workforce housing to be successful, the ideal location for it is in the City’s central core, which is conveniently located near many employment opportunities and local services, and is also being developed into a walkable, pedestrian-friendly Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) District, as it is the planned location of a potential future train station. A menu of developer incentive options was included in the Workforce Housing Program. Some of the specific programs include intensity and density bonuses, impact fee and permit fee waivers, and permitting accessory dwelling units (ADUs, also known as “granny fats”) in certain residential communities. In the future, once funding sources have had an opportunity to accrue, the City’s existing single-family rehabilitation program which is currently funded through the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program could be expanded to assist additional households, and multifamily rehabilitation could be included as well. To see the City Consultant’s report on Workforce Housing, and the Workforce Housing Program staff report, please go to www.pbgf.com/workforcehousing.

As the concepts in the City’s Workforce Housing Program have now been approved and adopted by the City Council, City staff will move forward with the next phase of implementation of specific policies and procedures starting in early 2021. Stay tuned!