Council mulls impact fee deferment for ‘workforce housing’
A proposal proponents say would make home ownership more affordable to lower-income workers got a preliminary nod by Cape Coral City Council Monday.
Council agreed at Monday’s special workshop meeting to support the concept of deferring city impact fees for a pilot program of single family homes to help meet a need for affordable workforce housing.
The Habitat for Humanity pilot program would defer approximately $7,000 in fees for a maximum of 150 homes over five years.
Habitat serves families making 80 percent or less of the area median income, typically restaurant servers, store clerks, lawn maintenance, construction and hospital workers.
Habitat for Humanity board member Gary Aubuchon represented Habitat in presenting the program to Council Monday, demonstrating the need for such deferrals in Lee and Hendry counties. He said the homes are three to four bedrooms with two bathrooms, approximately 1,400 to 1,500 total square feet.
“Today we are building houses with shingle roofs, stucco siding and meets all city building requirements,” Aubuchon said. “They look like lots of other houses in Cape Coral.”
Those qualifying for the program would not have to pay the city fees assessed to new construction for its “impact” on infrastructure as long as the homebuyers remained in the house. If the owners sold the home before the mortgage was paid off the sale would require payment of a $7,000 lien for the deferred fees. When the mortgage matured, the original owner would not obligated to pay the fees that would have been assessed.
Council members expressed concern over the potential for losing $1 million in impact fees and a fear that builders other than Habitat might also apply. Only two non-profit organizations provide the qualifying income housing in Cape Coral – Habitat for Humanity and Cape Coral Housing Development Corporation. Aubuchon said Habitat would not be able to build 150 homes by itself in five years.
Council just approved donating three city owned buildable lots to Cape Coral Housing Development at last Monday’s council meeting. Habitat also focuses on assisting families with lower incomes than CCHDC.
Members directed staff to provide more information on the percentage of Habitat homeowners who live in the home until the mortgage is retired. Members also suggested homeowners begin to pay back impact fees as their income increases or after a certain number of years.
Aubuchon said Habitat sets a limit of 30 percent of net income for applicant approval and suggested that increasing the payment might lead to more defaults, which currently stands at about 1 percent of its home buyers.
“I consider this a true team effort,” Councilmember Jim Burch said. “It is a collaboration of a lot of people wanting to do really, really well, including the people in the houses themselves. It’s a win/win all around.”
City Manager John Szerlag and Aubuchon agreed to provide more details at a future council workshop meeting.
City Council’s next regular meeting is 4:30 p.m. Monday in Council Chambers.