Affordable Housing
The Problem
Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. The affordable housing crisis has continued to grow in Palm Beach County. Without a serious change in how the county addresses this crisis, it will only get worse – especially for those making below 60% of the area median income ($58,440 for a family of four).
Families are one unexpected expense away from being homeless. An estimated 105,000 households are cost burdened (paying more than 30% of their income towards rent). Of those, 77,000 are paying more than 50% of their income towards rent.
To afford the average apartment, someone working a minimum wage job would have to work 163 hours a week – that’s four full-time jobs.
There’s a deficit of 42,500 rental units for those at or below 60% of AMI. This is further compounded by the fact that Palm Beach County has lost 10,000 rental units that cost less than $1,000 per month on the last 10 years.
Proven Solution:
According to the federal definition, “affordable housing” means not paying more than 30% of our income towards rent and utilities. Families making below 60% AMI are most often those paying more than 30% of their income towards housing. The County has continued to create “workforce housing”, which is for families making between $58,980 - $137,620, but this excludes more than half of our workforce employed in low-wage service sector jobs.
Over 800 communities across the country have addressed the affordable housing crisis through Affordable Housing Trust Funds (AHTF). AHTFs utilize local public dollars to address the housing needs of a community. Not only do AHTFs address the housing problem, but there are financial and other benefits to the county:
For every 100 new affordable housing units built, 150 jobs are created locally.
More affordable housing attracts businesses. 62% of company executives say the availability and cost of living is an important consideration when selecting new facility locations.
Every dollar invested by AHTFs leverages as much as five times additional public and private investment in housing.
2026 Nehemiah Action Update
Since 2020, we have been calling on our County Commissioners to take real action on the affordable housing crisis in our community. The need has only grown since then – we need an additional 47,000 affordable apartments to meet the need.
We have a clear and practical ask: create an Affordable Rental Housing Program that ensures new developments include affordable apartments, like the Workforce Housing Program.
While we are glad that Commissioner Gregg Weiss was at the Nehemiah Action, we are disappointed that he stated he would not support this requirement. He also claimed the County is doing enough to address the housing crisis, despite more than 116,000 households struggling to afford housing. We want to be clear: The County has both the responsibility and the tools to act.
It’s also important to note that six County Commissioners were not present. We need four votes to have our proposal become reality! We will be meeting with County Commissioners in the coming weeks and need you to be there with us, especially for the meeting with your Commissioner. Here’s where we stand with getting these meetings scheduled currently:
District 1: Maria Marino – stated she will not meet with us
District 3: Joel Flores – has not answered emails or calls
District 4: Marci Woodward – scheduled for 4/13 noon to 1:30pm
District 5: Maria Sachs – scheduling, waiting for final date and time
District 6: Sara Baxter – has not answered emails or calls
District 7: Bobby Powell Jr. – scheduling, supposed to hear back today with date and time
