Alachua County views housing as a critical issue
Press release from Alachua County
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – The housing crisis is a top priority for the Alachua County Commission, particularly in the wake of dramatically increased rents, home prices, and interest rates.
Alachua County has a variety of needs-based programs designed to address obtaining a home, staying in a home, and improving homes. These critical programs can create generational wealth for residents through the purchase of their first home, assist residents in getting into rental units they have previously struggled to afford, stay in their existing homes, and make improvements to their homes.
“Everything we do is focused on providing more affordable housing opportunities for our residents and improving the quality of housing,” said Candie Nixon, assistant director of Community Support Services. “We are involved in financial assistance, development, purchasing and renovating properties, and partnering with local and state organizations.”
Read the latest feature story, Alachua County Views Housing as a Critical Issue, from Public Information Officer Andrew Caplan.
“The housing crisis is a top priority for the Alachua County Commission, particularly in the wake of dramatically increased rents, home prices, and interest rates.”
Hypocritically enough, the county decided to omit the insane cost of taxes that we are all exposed to. I’m pretty sure that has a huge direct impact on the cost of living. Again, they think we are all dumb. Prove them wrong!
I concur 100%!!
I will add a couple other things that continue to limit & in some ways prohibit home ownership in the county – special assessments and high utility rates are but two others.
The Democrat majority in the county are the true modern slave owners. They want to make people dependent on them and their policies rather than providing people the tools to break those chains.
At least in the old days they’d get 40 acres and a mule. Now the County is keeping the acreage and telling people to ride a bike or take a bus.
I am so sick of listening to you commoners cry all the time. This type of government is exactly what you all are begging for. You want higher property taxes, extremely high utility rates, all types of unnecessary regulations, impact fees, etc. and I can prove it very easily!!! You dumb commoners keep voting people like me and Mini-Kenny Cornhole into office. So, we continue to give you underlings exactly what you apparently want, which is us and our method of ruling over you. You people need to understand things will never change and only continue down the road that we have driven you, because ya’ll are too ignorant to vote any different and believe me, we know it. So, with that being said I need to get back to the donut buffet, before Mini-Kenny gets a step stool and gets the last donuts off the buffet table.
Aren’t these the same people who worked to drive mom & pop landlords out of business?
The more affordable housing in most places, for many years, has been farther out from big employers, which requires commuting to work.
But many roadways in Alachua County are so congested due to deteriorating road conditions and anti-driver initiatives (see University Avenue) that commutes now take more time.
To improve the housing options for families who can’t afford the more expensive homes close to the university, fixing the roads and providing more lanes rather than narrowing roads would be very helpful.
I remember several years ago that Plum Creek tried to get zoning approval to develop an industrial park and lots of housing near Hawthorne. The company was defeated, and along with all that affordable housing and the job opportunities that the development would have brought.
Maybe Alachua County could rezone some of the timberland near Hawthorne and try again for jobs and affordable housing outside of Gainesville.
Of course it’s a priority.
There’s Federal money to spend.
Don’t bother to fix the insane high property taxes, high utility rates, crumbling roads and poor traffic management.
With high taxes, fees and assessments, the county and GNV politicians ignore the simple fact that they are the number one contributor to high housing costs. Grossly overpaying for worn out motels, apartments, houses, golf courses increases taxes unnecessarily.
If you know someone who needs housing help, please share this article.
In response to some comments, Alachua County has lowered its millage rate eight years in a row, and we are in the middle of the pack in tax rates among Florida counties. We are not the only entity on your tax bill, and we don’t control utility rates. Thanks to the voter-approved Wild Spaces Public Places surtax, we are making good progress on roads.
Now’s as good a time as any to recognize any idiot who continues to tax themselves by voting in favor of Wild Spaces. It’s taken how many millions collected, how many complaints about the roads, and how long to finally start making repairs? Roads are one of the last things for consideration…somewhere far down the list after hotels, artwork, and conservation easements.
By the way, how many people are living in the new properties recently purchased?
Land conservation surtaxes have been passed four times since 2000, but roads failed three times. It was only when we combined roads with conservation that they passed.
Maintaining transportation infrastructure is a problem nationwide. In the 1980s, the state turned over two hundred miles of roads to Alachua County without providing adequate funding to maintain them. That was the start of the County’s backlog issues. In counties across Florida, general fund dollars are strained to cover mandated services such as Law enforcement, jails, Fire/rescue, and social services, to name a few. The tool that the state gives Counties to pay for the massive costs of road projects is the infrastructure sales tax that voters must approve. Many Florida counties have successfully passed the tax. Voters in Alachua County have voted no three times on transportation ballot initiatives. In 2022, our current County Commissioners had the courage to expand the very successful Wild Spaces Public Places program into an omnibus Ballot initiative that included funding for road improvements, land conservation, parks and recreation, and affordable housing. The voters passed the surtax in November of 2022. This will allow us to make significant progress over the 10-year surtax period. Between WSPP, gas tax, and general fund dollars, there is a quarter of a billion dollars available for roads.
Is that $250m simply to maintain/enhance existing roads, or to build new ones that are desperately needed to relieve congestion?
Then get to work using it on roads – not sidewalks, bike paths, and certainly not hotels.
What’s needed is better stewards of our tax revenues.
In case you missed it, how many people are now living in the recent property acquisitions?
I believe it was more like they knew they wouldn’t be able to fool people into supporting a tax to purchase more lands, than it was of them, “having the courage.” As a package deal it’s been incredibly successful in leading voters to think roads would be a primary focus.
People like to think they did something to help – think back to the days when the lottery was being proposed as a funding source, (read complement), for public education; not a supplement to replace the public education budget.
Just because you pay off one credit card with an advance on another doesn’t mean you’ve decreased your debt obligation. Even a 5th grader knows that.
Alachua County’s use of the term “courage” in this context is an insult to people like firemen and cops who actually show real courage in their jobs.
Helllooo!
“Land conservation surtaxes have been passed four times since 2000, but roads failed three times. It was only when we combined roads with conservation that they passed.”
The regular commenters on this board think they don’t need no stinkin’ facts and any proposals aimed at improving conditions or solving problems are not considered for effectiveness and then intelligently criticized or encouraged, but merely vehicles for more tirades about how everything they hate is the fault of the type of people who live here and somehow unique to the civilized world. I think they’d all be happier in The Villages.
Way to derail an instructive conversation by turning it personal.
You’ve got time to post a comment here, I wonder if you’ve made time to make that 5 minute walk around Main St & 1st?
You should see the 💩 before you spew the 💩.
Maybe you can find the Wizard of Oz and ask him to give you some common sense, Jazzman.
I am impressed. “Alachua County” has become self aware. 969 square miles of Florida can write press releases. Have the Guinness folks been notified?
On the other hand, quit misleading the public. Yes it is technically true “Alachua County has lowered its millage rate eight years in a row” but you have not lowered taxes. The millage rate has always exceeded the Roll Back Rate, thus resulting in an increase in taxes paid for the woke BOCC to squander on World Masters and Celebration Pointe and slaughterhouses and Prizzia’s conflict of interest Working Foods and a million for a Chicago NGO for a Food Hub and endless woke stuff.
Adopt the roll back rate or quit misleading the public.
I’ve seen that before…1 step forward, 2 steps back.
That’s progressive liberal politics!
Housing? What about the homeless drug addicted bums and violent criminals?
Yeah, and what about the crummy seasons the Gators have had recently.
Do the programs triage in favor of “families” hobbled together or actually *married* with a stable history? And do they help single adults with housing for high school grads ready to grow up, not just college grads?
The costly blunders of other housing programs are still being felt across the county, and country.
You can’t please everyone. So you got to please yourselves .Gainesville Housing Market is the 7 deadly sins.
Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth. SEVEN DEADLY SINS
The worst housing-related “crisis” of the last 20 years (2007-2008) was caused by the government meddling too freehandedly in the housing business. While trying to enhance “generational wealth,” they ended up destroying a lot of it.
Gov Just needs to focus on essential services and mind its own biz!
The free market will take care of housing!
Don’t try to end world world hunger or stop climate change , or house the world’s vagrants here at the expense
Of the working taxpayers.
Can you do something about the panhandlers and the bums? Grace Mkt Taj Mahal “ build it and they will come”’…
Enlarge the jail and put more ankle bracelets on felons and work release!
By the way, when I typed in this comment, an online application link for section 8 popped up here in AC
As an advertisement‼️‼️
But….but…but….I thought they cared more about trees???
Property tax should be limited to my property only not services around me that’s unfair practice to all homeowners. It’s time for a change
Then why don’t they get rid of impact fees, lower property taxes and building permit fees?
Raising property taxes is a tax on unrealized profits. A real crime.