Fort Lauderdale to set measurable affordable‑housing goals, create central tracking system

Susan Sprague, chair of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC), told commissioners the committee recommends setting measurable goals for new affordable housing production over the next three years and creating a centralized process to track and publicize progress.

The AHAC recommended semiannual reporting and a system to collect unit counts across city departments so the city can measure approvals, units under construction, completed units and preservation. "Without specific measurable goals for affordable housing units, we have no benchmark against which to assess our progress," Sprague said.

Why it matters: Committee members and staff said measurable goals and public reporting build transparency, support long‑term planning and make it easier to attract funding. Broward County is also rolling out a public dashboard, which the city expects to align with its local tracking.

Details of the tracking and goal‑setting discussion

- Tracking tools and audit capacity: Housing staff said the city is implementing Neighborly software to strengthen compliance and auditing of deed‑restricted units and that the system is not yet fully ramped up; staff will provide the commission a date when Neighborly is expected to be functional for tracking.

- Reporting cadence: The committee initially recommended quarterly reporting but changed to semiannual reporting; commissioners asked staff to recommend annual unit goals and a reporting schedule and return with a proposed goal methodology.

- Goal methodology: Chris Cooper, acting assistant city manager, said staff will analyze recent development patterns and work with AHAC to propose an appropriate goal; he recommended a percentage‑based target (a share of annual approved or constructed housing) rather than a fixed numerical target because that can better scale with development activity. Cooper told the commission that over the past roughly five years, about 30% of projects in regional activity centers and corridors included affordable units or payments in lieu.

- Compliance and verification: Staff noted that while approvals often include affordable‑unit commitments or deed restrictions, annual follow‑up and auditing to verify units are rented to income‑eligible households is limited today; Neighborly is expected to increase auditing capacity beyond annual affidavits.

Direction and next steps

Commissioners asked staff to analyze peer cities and propose both aspirational and actionable goals, return with a recommended percentage‑based target and present a timeline for implementing the Neighborly tracking functions and a public reporting cadence. Staff said amendments to the consolidated plan or program documents may be needed to permit certain uses of entitlement funds for grants and that such amendments could take roughly 45–60 days to process for approval and submission to HUD where required.

Ending

Staff will come back with a proposed goal metric, an implementation timeline for Neighborly tracking and recommended reporting frequency to support semiannual public reporting and alignment with the Broward County dashboard.