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Habitat raises concerns as Walton staff consider contractor-based replacement-housing strategy
Summary
Habitat-affiliated committee members urged reconsideration of a replacement-housing approach that could award contractors up to $175,000 per unit, saying past Habitat-led projects delivered replacements for far less and warning a contractor model could exhaust SHIP funds and lengthen the waiting list.
Committee members and county staff spent substantial time debating the LHAP replacement-housing strategy and how replacement awards compare with rehabilitation funding.
A Habitat-affiliated committee member said she was "avidly opposed" to awarding replacement projects under the current strategy without the committee reviewing and possibly rebidding the strategy, noting that when Habitat served as the replacement-housing provider it completed projects at roughly $75,000. "I would be very sad... because we could do 2 replacement housing for the price that we would be paying for our contractor to do it," she said.
County staff explained why the replacement threshold had been increased: rising home values often push otherwise-rehab-eligible homes into replacement status, and contractors were not bidding at previous rates. The coordinator said higher replacement awards were a practical response to market conditions but acknowledged the trade-off in the number of households served.
Committee members asked for more documentation of past procurement, bids and contracts and for staff to return with data showing how many households a replacement strategy would serve versus expanded rehab funding. "We have to be cautious about stretching limited funding," a committee member said, urging that an approved strategy include competitive bids and oversight mechanisms.
