New Seahorse Units Preparing for Occupancy
In the next few months, tenants will begin moving into the new Seahorse units at Big Pine Key. Work on a total of 31 units, each with two bedrooms and one or two bathrooms, is being completed to ready the units for occupancy. All homes are designed to be hurricane resistant and are set on pilings to prevent flooding in future storms.
If you submitted an application to rent a unit and have not been contacted by our staff, please call 305-242-2142 to discuss your application. If you are interested in applying, please see our eligibility requirements and application below.
Background
On September 10, 2017, Hurricane Irma tore through the Lower Keys, the heart of working-class housing in the Florida Keys. Thousands of homes were gone with the wind. For decades, even prior to Hurricane Irma, there was a scarcity of affordable housing in The Keys due very simply to limited supply and high demand. That situation was intensified by the storm.
The hardest hit areas were those in the very neighborhoods where service and hourly workers could afford to live. The majority of those displaced are teachers, police officers, servers, cashiers, firefighters, ambulance drivers, hourly workers and the like – the very people who make the Keys what it is. They have lost their friends, their jobs, their homes and their dreams. Some have found alternative housing arrangements by doubling up with others, or in hotels or with FEMA assistance, but the costs of rebuilding are so astronomical, many are doing what they can just to hold on until the end of the season and then, if necessary, relocate.
In Monroe County, where the Florida Keys Community Land Trust will begin its work, only 1,970 more building permits are available between 2018 and 2023 approximately 700 will be designated for affordable housing and the remaining 1,270 will be market rate.
- Over 7% of the housing stock was destroyed.
- More than 1,800 homes destroyed with nearly 3,000 sustaining major damage.
- Existing rental homes will have to be re-built, but at much higher costs, hurling already unsustainable rents upward.
The hardest hit areas were those in the very neighborhoods where service and hourly workers could afford to live. The majority of those displaced are teachers, police officers, servers, cashiers, firefighters, ambulance drivers, hourly workers and the like – the very people who make the Keys what it is. They have lost their friends, their jobs, their homes and their dreams. Some have found alternative housing arrangements by doubling up with others, or in hotels or with FEMA assistance, but the costs of rebuilding are so astronomical, many are doing what they can just to hold on until the end of the season and then, if necessary, relocate.
In Monroe County, where the Florida Keys Community Land Trust will begin its work, only 1,970 more building permits are available between 2018 and 2023 approximately 700 will be designated for affordable housing and the remaining 1,270 will be market rate.
As a quick reference, download our one pager.
View Presentation on Affordable Workforce Housing for the Florida Keys.