Houses For Sale $100,000 in Tampa, City to Add Affordable Homes

TAMPA - Houses for sale for $100,000. In Tampa. New construction.

A small, not-for-profit group called the Westshore Community Development Corp. is spearheading an affordable housing project that backers hope will serve as a model for Tampa and the rest of Hillsborough County.

The group is embracing the community land trust concept, in which homeowners buy the house but not the land underneath it. Such trusts have been around for a few decades, but came to Florida only about 12 years ago. The Westshore project is the first in Hillsborough County, joining about 30 others either in the planning stages or under way across the state.

“Think about it,” said City Councilman Tom Scott, who led an affordable housing task force when he was a county commissioner. “The average price of a home last year was $250,000. You can get one of these units for [$100,000]. That’s a big savings - a big savings.”

Community land trusts are designed to address two of the biggest problems facing affordable housing efforts: making the home affordable in the first place, and keeping it that way once the original buyer sells.

City and county officials say they will closely watch the development’s progress to see whether it works. If so, the concept could be replicated, increasing the affordable housing stock in the area.

How It Works

Ron Rotella is executive director of the Westshore Alliance, a group that promotes business interests in the West Shore business district. Traffic congestion and housing prices are key considerations when businesses decide whether to locate to the area, and Rotella saw both situations worsening.

About a year ago, he approached Scott with an idea: Would the county deed nearly 4 acres of vacant land to a nonprofit group for an affordable housing project?

As it turned out, Scott’s task force had recommended that officials consider creating a community land trust. Rotella’s concept fit.

With the community land trust model, the land generally is owned by a nonprofit group, in this case the Westshore Community Development Corporation Community Land Trust. The land continues to be owned by the trust, not the homebuyer.

Because residents don’t purchase the land, the price of the house falls sharply, making it more affordable. Plus, the land is tax-exempt, so the homeowner pays property taxes only on the value of the structure.

The land trust provides a 99-year lease to the homeowner. If homeowners sell, they can’t make a killing off the project because a resale formula limits profits, which guarantees that the homes remain affordable to the next buyer. If the units cease to be affordable, the land reverts back to the county.

Hillsborough County deeded 3.7 acres of land at Clark and Spruce streets to the land trust. The land is the site of a former county jail.

Rotella’s group is building 57 town houses, most with three bedrooms. The units will be 1,550 square feet and include a garage.

The Tampa City Council recently approved the project’s zoning requirements. Site work is scheduled to start in January. The units are being built at a plant and will be delivered to the site. Residents could move in as soon as August.

According to the arrangement with the county, roughly 43 of the units must be sold to families earning a maximum of 80 percent of the area median income. That’s $43,500 for a family of four. The others can be sold at market rate.

The $11.5 million project, called Westshore Landings, secured $4 million from the state. Rotella also has a pending request for about $1 million from the city.

The city plans to offer down-payment assistance to families buying units, said Cyndy Miller, the city’s director of growth management and development services.

The median sales price in the Tampa area market was $200,700 in September, about $15,000 less than in September 2006, but still out of reach for many in a community where the median income for a family of four is $54,400.

Scott’s task force found that from 1994 to 2006, the median sales price in the area rose more than 200 percent, while median household income rose only about 50 percent.

The task force’s report also said that between 2006 and 2011, roughly 19,000 homes affordable to those with incomes no higher than 80 percent of the area median will be required in Hillsborough.

That’s why the Westshore project has such potential, Scott said.

It would help teachers, firefighters, police officers, secretaries - “people who ordinarily could not afford a $250,000 mortgage,” he said.

A Model Project?

Local government has taken a variety of measures to try to make home ownership a reality for more people: offering down-payment assistance, waiving some impact fees for developers, encouraging mixed-use housing developments and, in some areas, offering developers incentives if they include low-cost units in their projects.

No one is saying community land trusts will solve the affordable housing shortage in Hillsborough, but it is another important “tool in the affordable housing toolbox,” said Howie Carroll, the county’s affordable housing coordinator.

The Westshore Landings project could become a model for the community, Carroll said.

“If it works well, we’ll replicate it and keep doing it over and over,” he said. He said the county already is looking at other vacant properties that might work for affordable housing sites.

One measure of success will be whether the units sell quicker than other, market-priced developments, Carroll said.

Miller said another gauge will be whether the homebuyers are satisfied with the units. And the project truly will be successful if the homes stay affordable after the first-time residents sell. The goal is to keep the units permanently affordable.

Jaimie Ross, who heads the Florida Community Land Trust Institute, said community land trust housing should be targeted to renters. Those who can afford a home outright should buy a home, she said, because they will have more equity in the residence without the profit restrictions attached to a land trust project. But community land trust housing is a great alternative to renting, she said, and a steppingstone to full homeownership.

In Winter Park, the Hannibal Square Community Land Trust formed in 2004 and has since sold 10 single-family homes. Another four should be completed next month, said Bedilia Campbell, executive director.

The project has been successful, Campbell said, making homeownership a reality for several families. But it hasn’t been without its challenges. Her advice to government officials is to educate people on the land trust concept. Many don’t grasp that they won’t own the land along with the building and that their profits when they eventually sell will be limited.

Also, she said, make sure the property isn’t isolated from other developments to keep the project from being stigmatized as housing for the poor.

Rotella agrees with that philosophy. The project should be known as Westshore Landings, he said, not a work force housing development.

Tampa and Hillsborough officials are watching Westshore Landings closely.

“We’re all looking at it with anticipation because we have not had this framework available elsewhere in the Tampa Bay area,” Miller said. “It’s something that’s been acceptable in other places. Maybe once we have one successful project, hopefully we’ll see others.”

City To Add Affordable Homes
By ELLEN GEDALIUS | The Tampa Tribune