PRICED OUT Community-wide, collaborative efforts are underway to create attainable and workforce housing in Collier County BY DICK HOGAN
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rush of wealthy pandemic refugees is fast displacing Collier County’s essential workers and now the county is trying an array of tactics to keep them here. But business and government leaders alike are worried that might not happen quickly enough to sustain the quality of life that brought the newcomers in the first place. “Our real problem is that we need people to fix our cars, build houses, serve our food, cut our grass, get stuff done,” says Maurice Cossairt, chair of the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®) Governmental Issues Committee. “And they’re being lost in the fray.” District 5 Collier County Commissioner William “Bill” L. McDaniel Jr. says the problem can be solved by streamlining construction permitting along with incentives for builders to include lower-priced units in future rental projects.
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The county’s message for nonprofit and for-profit builders alike: “Come back to me with a deal—a piece of property that is developable that provides for housing affordability—and even if we have to take money out of ad valorem (taxes) and backfill it out of the sales tax revenue, then we’ll do the deal.”
Gimme Shelter
Meanwhile, high prices in Collier are pushing the workforce out altogether, says Mary Waller, a member of the NABOR® Board of Directors. With few single-family listings under $400,000 in Collier, most working couples are now shut out of homeownership, says Waller, who also serves on the Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. “To buy a $400,000 property, you need to be making at least $117,000 to even qualify for a mortgage,” she says. “Mostly, people can’t afford that, even with a double income.”
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