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Broward headed for housing shortage
By Robin Benedick
Sun-Sentinel
Posted
September 16 2001
With thousands of people pouring into Broward County each year, the county faces a tough challenge: where to put them all.
Short of posting “no vacancy” signs along Interstate 95, the county is heading for a housing shortage as its population climbs to about 2 million people over the next decade.
Not only is Broward running out of vacant land for new houses, there are too few existing homes to meet the demand. Complicating matters are soaring resale prices that are shutting out first-time homebuyers and making it harder for people to find affordable homes.
The housing squeeze isn’t going away. Broward grew by almost 368,000 people in the 1990s. That’s about the population of Miami. Broward has about 1.6 million residents.
That growth has come at a price. Roads are jammed. Schools are crowded. Water resources are stressed. County commissioners are beginning to talk about how to accommodate so many more people, though they have yet to agree on a plan.
Their choices, however, are clear-cut. Commissioners can do nothing. Or they can adopt measures to make it easier, or harder, to cram more people into homes and apartments.
Some residents fear too much redevelopment will overwhelm older, eastern neighborhoods.
“Our quality of life will go downhill if we start stacking people on top of one another,” said Rod Tirrell, a Sierra Club member and Broward resident since the early 1970s. “I don’t know that we need to accept all of these people.”
But limiting or even trying to stop people from coming to Broward may not be practical, because people will continue to flock here for the weather, location and other amenities, said Anthony Downs, an urban policy expert from the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
He was invited by county commissioners to talk at a recent workshop about “smart growth,” the latest planning buzzword for compact, mixed-use and high-density development in older communities that have adequate public transportation, such as bus service.
“The most important policy issue facing you is, how much growth do you want?” Downs told commissioners. “Do you want your policies encouraging growth or stopping it?”
Commissioners have different opinions on that question. Some don’t want to encourage more housing, because they don’t think Broward’s infrastructure can handle it.
“If there aren’t housing opportunities here, they’ll look for other communities to go to,” said Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger. “They don’t all have to come to Broward. I can’t see piling more people in when we don’t have services here to meet those needs.”
Others said the county should take the lead on a plan with cities to put higher-density developments, such as apartments and condos, along major roads such as State Road 7 and Sunrise Boulevard.
“You need to stop thinking you can put all of this retail space along certain corridors and put more housing with some retail mixed in,” said Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion.
Downs said Broward needs more affordable homes, or the high cost of housing will drive out the middle class. That’s happened in Key West and California.
He thinks Broward should increase densities in areas that can support more people in bigger buildings. He also favors converting commercial land into residential uses, turning empty shopping centers into apartment buildings, speeding up permitting and encouraging cities to assemble land for redevelopment.
“If we put high-rises anywhere, that’s the place,” Commissioner Ben Graber said of the State Road 7 corridor.
One idea being embraced by Commissioner Kristin Jacobs would create zoning rules requiring developers to make a small percentage of their apartments, maybe 10 percent or 15 percent, “affordable” to owners and renters. Other units would sell at market prices. In return, developers would be allowed to build more units than would otherwise be allowed.
In other communities, so-called inclusionary zoning has led to developments offering a mix of housing in various price ranges.
“We don’t want to concentrate our poor people in one particular area,” Jacobs said. “We need to take a proactive approach and decide where we want to put housing, how much we want to grow and what we want to look like. We can’t just do nothing.”
Commissioners said they would not support increasing density in established single-family neighborhoods.
“I believe when people buy a home it’s the largest investment they’ll make,” said Commissioner Lori Parrish. “We have some obligation to protect their neighborhood.”
The potential for zoning changes makes some east Broward residents nervous.
Rio Vista resident Sherry Niarchos said her neighborhood southeast of downtown Fort Lauderdale already is being overrun by bigger homes. As an old house is demolished, several new ones are being built in its place.
“Nobody is paying enough attention to the fact that these places should be preserved,” said Niarchos, a 22-year resident.
In Victoria Park, Hans Hochkamp lives across the street from townhouses being built behind the former Peaches music store on Sunrise Boulevard. They’re selling for almost a half-million dollars each.
“We want to make sure our single-family homes stay intact,” Hochkamp said. “We don’t want higher densities, but at the same time these townhouses going up are nicer than what was there.”
John Fitzgerald, whose Broward Development Group is building the upscale townhouses in Victoria Park, said he builds fewer units than are allowed on the land. He said the market is so hot that townhouses he built and sold there for $289,000 a few years ago are reselling for more than $500,000.
“I’m not in favor of hurting a neighborhood to increase density, and I don’t ever see the city of Fort Lauderdale increasing density,” he said.
Real estate brokers said the flurry of redevelopment in east Broward is fast driving up prices and property values. “It’s unbelievable to see these neighborhoods regentrifying with mixed uses,” said Jacquelyn Scott, a broker-associate at ReMax Partners.
Commissioner John Rodstrom, whose district includes Fort Lauderdale, said the county needs to rethink its long-standing position of limiting growth and work more closely with the School Board to make sure there are enough future classrooms.
“It’s going to come whether we provide for it or not,” he said. “Politically, it’s popular to just say no, but I don’t think we can do that anymore.”
Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedick@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7914.
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Since 1950, Broward County has grown almost 20-fold. Another 1 million people are expected in Broward by 2030.
| 1950 | 83,933 |
| 1960 | 333,946 |
| 1970 | 620,100 |
| 1980 | 1,018,200 |
| 1990 | 1,255,488 |
| 2000 | 1,623,018 |
| 2010 | 1,949,400 |
| 2020 | 2,289,900 |
| 2030 | 2,612,700 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau and University of Florida Bureau of Business and Economic Research
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Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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