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Summit set on affordable housing here

Local groups plan to meet in January to address the rising cost of homeownership in the county.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published November 10, 2006

After renting an apartment in Tampa for five years, Michael Stanton wanted a piece of the American dream.

So last year, the Zephyrhills High School history teacher went house-hunting. Nothing extravagant, just a small, affordable home for a single guy.

But Pasco's high housing costs forced Stanton, 37, to use $8,000 earmarked for a down payment on a house to buy a mobile home instead. Stanton is even job hunting in states where it's cheaper to live.

"I spent a year looking for a home to buy, but I just couldn't find anything I could afford," he said. "I gave up ... I was going to have to get a second job to pay for the mortgage. Houses that would sell for $89,000 are now $150,000-$170,000."

Stanton's plight mirrors an ugly truth for some Pasco residents: This used to be an affordable place for families and young professionals to live. It's not anymore.

Rising taxes and homeowners insurance now have local nonprofits and city governments addressing the housing crisis.

The Pasco County Community Development Division and the county's Coalition for the Homeless are planning a January conference on affordable housing. Organizers hope to gather local and state officials to work on a long-term plan to address housing issues, from insurance to homelessness.

Statistics back up homeowners' worries: Median home prices in Pasco have increased over the past year from $168,000 in September 2005 to $199,000 in September of this year, even as the housing market cooled.

"There are so many housing problems in this county," said George Romagnoli, Pasco's Community Development manager and conference organizer. "There's a question of affordability. Our wages have not kept up as far as Pinellas and Hillsborough. There's insurance, the sinkhole problem ... a lot of the solutions involve money, so we need to think outside the box and get money from the private sector."

In Port Richey, City Manager Jerry Calhoun hopes to partner with Habitat for Humanity and a private developer to build about 60 affordable homes for "essential" employees, such as firefighters and teachers, on a 40-acre plot near the city's well fields on Leo Kidd Avenue.

Calhoun hopes environmentally safe, energy-efficient homes with rain gardens an infiltration system to reduce storm water runoff and porous concrete will increase the city's tax base and help residents saddled with high housing costs.

He also hopes to create a land trust allowing the city to own the land beneath the homes.

That means cheaper homes for those who move in, since they will have to pay for only the house itself.

As planning continues for the affordable housing conference, organizer Philip C. Harris summed up the need to address the problem.

"Anybody can get a loan and get a house," he said. "But can you stay in it? That's an issue."

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at (727) 869-6229 or cspencer@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 22:52:40]