ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — When it comes to homes that the middle class can afford in St. Augustine, the demand is high, but the supply is low.
St. Augustine’s mayor and the city commissioners are now entering the housing business, or at least they’re thinking about it.
The goal is to create more affordable housing.
The City of St. Augustine had a meeting Monday to talk housing.
The average sale price of a house in St. Johns County in December was $450,000 according to Redfin. The average rent had jumped to $1,730 a month in 2021 according the Board of Realtors.
That makes finding a home in the county or city hard for the typical St. Augustine family making $52,000 dollars a year.
“This is a supply issue on a major level," Shannon Nazworth with Ability Housing told city commissioners. "So if we can increase the supply, while it won’t take care of all the affordable housing needs by any stretch, it will start taking care of the problem. This is going to take a lot of different scenarios,"
Monday, the city commission voted to conduct a feasibility study to determine what are the possibilities of building workforce apartments and homes on land the city already owns.
Three sites include one on North Holmes Boulevard. Assistant City Manager David Birchim said that site could hold about 500 homes.
The second parcel is on Fish Island Road, close to the State Road 312 bridge. It could hold more than 300 homes, according to Birchim.
And the third property is near that second one. It’s only about two acres, and could be turned into 35 homes.
The city is facing various questions: Should the city build? Or should the city hire a developer? Or should the city sell the property to someone who will build affordable housing?
Bill Lazar who runs St. Johns Housing Partnership, a non-profit housing organization, told commissioners that private developers will not build affordable homes on their own.
"The rising tide that lifts all boats does not lift affordable housing. It’s got to have government participation. We need builders and developers. We really need lenders to step up," Lazar said.
The City of St. Augustine is also considering giving incentives to private developers to build more homes that the working class can afford by allowing more homes per acre.