Wednesday, March 22, 2006

This is going to end badly.

Sun-Sentinel.com: Palm Beach County commissioners to require developers to limit home prices

Palm Beach County's proposed affordable housing fix started Tuesday, with county commissioners agreeing to force developers to limit some new home prices.

After months of negotiations with the housing industry failed to produce a deal, county commissioners agreed to require that as much as nearly 20 percent of new neighborhoods be reserved for low and middle-income buyers.

In return for providing "affordable" homes, which could range in price from $164,000 to $304,000, developers could build up to 30 percent more homes than usually allowed to help recover lost profits.

Fees on new businesses and luxury homes as well as taxpayer-backed bonds to help pay for affordable housing efforts could follow, commissioners said.

"The builders are going to hate it. The realtors are going to hate it. Too bad," Commissioner Warren Newell said. "We have to do what's right for the community."

Commissioners on Tuesday backed off threats of a building moratorium. Instead, the commission endorsed an interim policy to start limiting some home prices in new neighborhood proposals while work begins to change county development guidelines and finalize the affordable housing standards by this fall.

Developers and builders contend the new rules mean they are the ones who will get priced out of Palm Beach County, which they say would slow construction of new neighborhoods and further inflate the costs of existing homes. (Thanks to WorldNetDaily for the heads up.)

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