County staff briefed commissioners on projects submitted under the bond-funded housing RFPs the board authorized in 2022. The bond program provides low-cost financing for workforce and affordable rental housing. Staff recommended conceptual approval for a set of workforce and affordable projects and recommended denying several others that did not meet scoring thresholds for leverage and cost per unit.

Key staff figures presented the recommended projects and requested county investment amounts. For workforce housing, Marina Annex (previously Judge Rogers Court) requested $15,300,000 for 175 units, of which 158 would be county‑assisted, representing a county investment of about $96,835 per assisted unit. Lake Worth Station requested approximately $1,059,223 for 91 units with 13 county‑assisted units. For the affordable housing round staff recommended six projects totaling roughly $54,000,000 to produce 770 county‑assisted units at an average county investment of about $70,238 per unit.

Several projects were not recommended because they exceeded per‑unit thresholds or scored poorly on leverage. One notable example, 7th on Haverhill, initially was scored as committing only 40 county‑assisted units; developer representatives said that was a miscommunication and that the project can commit all 101 units to long‑term affordability and the board could either approve now or allow the project to return. Commissioners debated fairness to other applicants if rules changed mid‑process and whether staff could parse mixed‑use costs to present a residential‑only cost per square foot as part of underwriting.

After public comment from developers and housing advocates, the board approved the staff recommendations for the set of projects identified by staff, denied the projects staff found ineligible (without prejudice), and agreed to allow 7th on Haverhill to return with clarified commitments in January for potential reconsideration. Commissioners asked staff to break out residential vs. nonresidential costs, show underwriting details before final approval, and to accelerate the next RFP round if feasible. Vice Mayor Woodward withheld support for projects where county funding would exceed the first mortgage lender, saying she would not support projects where market participants put less skin in the deal than taxpayers.

Staff said if the board gives conceptual approvals, projects will proceed to underwriting and return for final approval; staff estimated $44.4 million would remain if all projects were approved as submitted, and about $81.9 million would remain if only staff's recommended projects were approved.