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Residents urge action on affordable housing as commission removes linkage-fee item to a future meeting
Summary
Community members and faith groups urged the commission to adopt an affordable-housing linkage fee and other measures after the commission removed item 9a (redevelopment and neighborhood services: essential housing linkage fees) to a future meeting. Speakers cited homelessness among schoolchildren and local families displaced by rising rents.
Several residents and faith-based advocates used the March 5 public-comment period to press Daytona Beach commissioners to act on affordable housing and to express disappointment after the commission removed item 9a — a redevelopment and neighborhood services linkage-fee proposal — from the agenda to a future meeting.
Karen Delisle, representing a faith organization that described itself as "Faith" (Fighting Against Injustice Toward Harmony), said more than 2,000 Volusia County schoolchildren are homeless and urged the commission to consider the housing impacts of recent commercial development. "We need remedies," Delisle said, arguing commercial entrants should contribute to mitigation and affordable housing.
Patty Santopadre, a member of the Faith Affordable Housing Committee, disputed claims that Volusia County has a surplus of affordable housing for the populations the city's trust fund intends to serve. She cited a County memo and said that while there may be a surplus at higher income levels, lower-income households — such as her daughter, a preschool teacher earning about $30,000 annually — face steep deficits and are being forced to relocate outside the city because of rent increases.
Faith co-chair Jackie Moll told commissioners there was "a level of disappointment" after the linkage-fee item was removed from the agenda following years of advocacy. Moll said Faith and allied organizations remain committed to a linkage fee and the city's affordable-housing trust fund.
Jenny Nasak, with the grassroots Strong Towns network, urged the commission to consider a set of local code reforms that could increase naturally affordable housing supply, such as allowing conversions and backyard cottages by right, lowering lot-size minimums and reducing parking mandates.
Commissioners had earlier noted, during agenda approval, that item 9a was being removed from the current meeting and rescheduled to a future meeting. The record shows the commission moved the item rather than taking action at this meeting. No final action on a linkage fee or trust-fund ordinance was taken on March 5; speakers and commissioners indicated further discussion will follow at the rescheduled date.
