Florida Officials Struggling To Find Affordable Housing For Locals Months After Hurricane Irma : NPR
Greg Allen
In the Florida Keys  a shortage of affordable housing has become a crisis after Hurricane Irma. More than 27 000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Irma's high winds and storm surge. A lot of those were mobile homes or trailers. And  NPR's Greg Allen  reports that this is having an impact on the service and tourist economy in the Keys.
 ALLEN : Yeah. How many do you think are gone now?
 ALLEN : Todd Sabin has lived in the Driftwood Trailer Park for decades. He's retired now. He and his wife are lucky. When they returned after Irma  their mobile home was intact. Most others weren't as fortunate. Some received enough damage that their mobile homes are slated for demolition. For many like Sabin  this is a second home.
 ALLEN : Sabin's longtime neighbor Jimmy Aurelio has stopped by. He's moving out. He owns his own business - a towing company. He's staying with a friend for now but says he's looking for a new place to live in the Keys.
 ALLEN : Steve Miller has lived on Big Pine Key for 35 years. Like more than a dozen of his neighbors  his mobile home was destroyed in Hurricane Irma. This island has long been one of the most affordable places to live in the Keys. One reason for that  Miller says  are the mobile homes - many of them old but available for rent.
 ALLEN : Miller says he has many friends who have already left. He worries many more will follow unless local officials act quickly to make more affordable housing available for the people who staff the Keys' restaurants  hotels  schools and hospitals. But in the Keys  like other resort communities  proposals to build workforce housing are often met with strong opposition. At a recent county commission meeting  Bill Hunter was one of several residents worried that workforce housing would increase density and traffic in his neighborhood.
 ALLEN : This problem  the need for workforce housing  isn't a new issue here. County Commissioner Heather Carruthers says over the last several years  with incentives and help from the county  developers have built more than 800 units reserved for workforce housing. But she says Irma has turned a longstanding problem into a crisis. Carruthers says it's about more than protecting the vital tourist economy.
 ALLEN : Carruthers says the county is looking at available land where it can build workforce housing. But she knows that's something many residents will oppose.
 ALLEN : Carruthers acknowledges that even the fastest plans to build more workforce housing will take a year or more to carry out. That does little to help workers who are struggling to find a place in the Keys where they can afford to live right now. Greg Allen  NPR News  Miami.
In the Florida Keys  a shortage of affordable housing has become a crisis after Hurricane Irma. More than 27 000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Irma's high winds and storm surge. A lot of those were mobile homes or trailers. And  NPR's  [TGT]   reports that this is having an impact on the service and tourist economy in the Keys.
 ALLEN : Yeah. How many do you think are gone now?
 ALLEN : Todd Sabin has lived in the Driftwood Trailer Park for decades. He's retired now. He and his wife are lucky. When they returned after Irma  their mobile home was intact. Most others weren't as fortunate. Some received enough damage that their mobile homes are slated for demolition. For many like Sabin  this is a second home.
 ALLEN : Sabin's longtime neighbor Jimmy Aurelio has stopped by. He's moving out. He owns his own business - a towing company. He's staying with a friend for now but says he's looking for a new place to live in the Keys.
 ALLEN : Steve Miller has lived on Big Pine Key for 35 years. Like more than a dozen of his neighbors  his mobile home was destroyed in Hurricane Irma. This island has long been one of the most affordable places to live in the Keys. One reason for that  Miller says  are the mobile homes - many of them old but available for rent.
 ALLEN : Miller says he has many friends who have already left. He worries many more will follow unless local officials act quickly to make more affordable housing available for the people who staff the Keys' restaurants  hotels  schools and hospitals. But in the Keys  like other resort communities  proposals to build workforce housing are often met with strong opposition. At a recent county commission meeting  Bill Hunter was one of several residents worried that workforce housing would increase density and traffic in his neighborhood.
 ALLEN : This problem  the need for workforce housing  isn't a new issue here. County Commissioner Heather Carruthers says over the last several years  with incentives and help from the county  developers have built more than 800 units reserved for workforce housing. But she says Irma has turned a longstanding problem into a crisis. Carruthers says it's about more than protecting the vital tourist economy.
 ALLEN : Carruthers says the county is looking at available land where it can build workforce housing. But she knows that's something many residents will oppose.
 ALLEN : Carruthers acknowledges that even the fastest plans to build more workforce housing will take a year or more to carry out. That does little to help workers who are struggling to find a place in the Keys where they can afford to live right now.  [TGT]   NPR News  Miami.