Fort Myers Beach Town Councilman Bill Veach would like to see a portion of the $1.1 Billion Lee County was granted from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to go toward workforce housing on Fort Myers Beach. And, he’s come up with a unique idea to pitch to the county for those funds.
Hurricane Ian did a lot of damage to Fort Myers Beach, however, one thing it did not do was make purchasing a home more affordable. In fact, property values have gone up despite the destruction. It’s nearly impossible for anyone who works on Fort Myers Beach to live on Fort Myers Beach. Throw in the traffic issues getting on and off the island and that makes it even more difficult for employers to find workers.
The HUD funds granted to Lee County can only be spent on a limited number of eligible activities related to impacts from Hurricane Ian; housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, public services and planning. At least 70% of the grant must be used for projects that benefit Low-to-Moderate Income households, which HUD defines as a family at or below 80% of Area Median Income. For example, in Lee County a single-person household would qualify at $47,700 or less per year, whereas the limit for total household income is $68,100 per year for a family of four. There’s a question as to whether any of Fort Myers Beach fits into the Low-to-Moderate Income category.
So how does Councilman Bill Veach think any of that money will come to Fort Myers Beach? Every single church on the island suffered significant damage thanks to Ian. And that’s where Veach’s idea comes in. “We have small congregations with big lots.”
Veach wants to try to get funding from Resilient Lee to purchase land from the churches and build workforce housing on those properties. He says this is the time to think big. “What I’m proposing is that the town uses grant block money to buy the majority of the (church) lot and use the grant block money to build workforce housing. It would then get turned over to a housing entity similar to Sanibel or the county. We use objective criteria to allocate those spots, meaning number of years as a full time employee on the island, extra points if you’re a teacher, a cop, a fireman or if you work for the town. Then the housing is allocated by a point system. It’s not putting your brother in there, not a friends and family thing. It’s true workforce housing.”
Veach says the church’s would benefit because they could use the proceeds from the land sale, whatever insurance they might have, and other public assistance to build their buildings back, “a smaller church on a smaller lot.”
Veach says he would like the town to make an offer to any church interested. “I’ve had some conversations with one church and got a positive response from it. My preference is in areas that are not quite as single family home as Beach Baptist. This is surrounded 360 degrees by single family homes. In transparency including mine.”
A big question would be is that HUD grant money eligible for this idea. Veach says while he doesn’t make the final decision on that, this is HUD money and this is what it was meant for. “The idea of workforce housing is live where you work. In order to do that you have to build the housing here. It qualifies technically but it’s a lot of money and there are a lot of hands out for it. I’m on the Resilient Lee Committee so I’ll bring it up. We have a series of stages we go through. Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane is also an important piece of this puzzle. I’m sure one of the downsides we have is our price per door is going to be higher because our land is more expensive but it’s something you have to do if you want to have people live where they work.”
Watch our interview with Councilman Bill Veach from the special Beach Baptist meeting on May 25th HERE. Come to Wahoo Willie’s tomorrow to watch our show live. Our guest will be Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane.
When this discussion came up earlier, some woman was barking at me about how this housing would be for teachers, firemen,etc and was using Sanibel as her example. I looked her name up and she didn’t even live on the beach. She was in Georgia. Unless you live ON THE BEACH you should not even have a say in this. I worked hard to be able to build up my reserves so I could buy a home on the beach. I drove over 1 hr each way for my job. No one was trying to provide me with workforce housing. Now suddenly since Obama started pushing diversity in neighborhoods, we have people like Veach pushing work force housing. There are plenty of homes over the bridge that these people can rent. Was Veach the one that pushed for FMB to get AI surveillance camera to track our license plates and our every move? ACLU is suing Marco island for trying to install these cameras so who pushed it here? Veach??? He’s got to go.
Wow! I’m going to take a break from Beach Talk Radio. The vitriole spewed at the suggestion of workforce housing by hard working, empathetic councilman Bill Veach is cruel and mean spirited. We moved here 15 years ago for the wildlife, the old town atmosphere, charming cottages and interesting people who lived and worked here. I guess all that is changing now and what we will be left with are expensive hotels and selfish right wing nouveau riche.
He’s a Liberal and is pushing is Liberal agenda on the tax payers of the island. That needs to be voted on by the home owers. Suggesting our small island build work for housing is ridiculous. It’s a 7 mile long island and there are buses and reasonable housing right off the island. This is just their way of getting the Federal Gov. to fund this for them.
Typical politician…will propose ANYTHING to obtain funding.
GET VEACH OFF THE BEACH!!! THIS SELF-SERVING POLITICIAN NEEDS TO GO BEFORE HE DOES MORE DAMAGE TO FMB, HIS TIME IS ALMOST UP GOOD RIDDANCE.
If turnover rate for hospitality workers is 73% and a tenant decides to quit working, they can also decide to “squat” in the housing until they are removed by a court which could take many months, even years.
This morning FOX 4 had an interesting spot on a proposed Work-Force housing project in the city of Ft. Myers. Here is the link that one can cut and past into a browser https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a4dVo_cHg-I
You can draw your own conclusions, but it seems that the Ft. Myers approach is much different than what the church is proposing.
The proposal for workforce housing seems premature. How about a needs assessment before contemplating spending taxpayer dollars on housing. The hospitality industry is transient according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For all industries turnover rate is 12-15% while hospitality workers is 73.8%. Potentially this means managing leases that are a minimum of 12 months per HUD. So, is the City of Ft Myers Beach or a charity organization have the resources to manage hospitality workers in public housing? A huge commitment that we currently cannot throw into the fray of reconstructing our island. The hole idea of workforce housing is a decoy appealing to our charitable consciousness. A con at best to replace a non-insured church at no cost, again appealing to our charitable spirit. We are being played here. I suspect that a needs assessment will reveal the realities of workforce housing on the beach. You have to wonder about the competency of public officials that jump to proposals, before doing research on the validity of their ideas.
Like the current council all of them lack the experience needed to lead us through this contastrophy, most of them if not all are there for TPI only they couldn’t care less about anyone else, 3- council members will be gone and if any of them try to get reelected I doubt the folks on this island would vote them back in.
My husband and I commute off island to go to work, what’s the problem commuting on?
Work force issues are a business problem, not a government problem. Does anyone really believe that getting government involved in this would ultimately be helpful?
Businesses should work together and come up with creative ideas to help get their employees to and from work.
For example, hospitality businesses could could form a co-op that would provide water taxi services to and from the island using a voucher system. When employees come to work after they get hired, they get one voucher to come to work. While at work they get two vouchers; one one to go home and one to come to work the next time they are scheduled.
This is just one idea. I’m certain smarter people than me could think of something better.
Really people? This is a great time to think outside of the box and creatively think of what can be done for less expensive housing… Not HUD, before the island gets completely built up again. Do you really think that people want to wait in line and pay for parking for a low income job? No, but you will complain when your favorite restaurant can’t serve you because they don’t have enough help or you can’t get your nails done or whatever luxury you feel you so are so entitled to. Ferries might be a good idea, but let’s come up with some other constructive thoughts instead of just shooting down someone who is trying to make a difference.
You pay for it Cindy, why should the burden fall on the tax paying residents, this is a business issue and with 80 percent of them gone where is the current need at this time? It not like we are so remote that workers have to travel for miles to get here, totally ridiculous and a waste of money.
Bill, keep working hard with ideas on rebuilding our island and including affordable housing. It’s an issue in every dense community. The idea of using available funds, if the project qualifies, is well used money. A portion has to be targeted to a certain income bracket. I don’t see this as section 8 nor socialism. We bought our gulf front condo on Fort Myers Beach because the community didn’t feel like a hoity toity community like some other communities do. Across the bridge is a great idea as well but not sure if that allocation could be used there. Keep up the work Bill as well as all council members. You know that you will always be slammed for whatever you do but just know there is a majority of owners on this island that appreciate all your work and efforts. I get that there is lot of complexity around who gets what and even though people have acquired great wealth in their careers does not minimize the larger population that will work their asses off equally as hard and never financially obtain what you have. When we get such incredible service at the restaurants on this island and the restaurant establishments provide some of the best food around, it would be good to know we’ve given some effort, let alone thought, to help with the problem. Even though we can’t solve everything or utilize these funds to everyone’s approved desire, it is worth putting on the table. I’d like to at least feel that when I dine out and say, “Thank You for your great service”. Thank you as well city council for your service.
Don’t say “the majority of the owners on the island appreciate his work and efforts.” Speak for yourself. You own condo so you won’t have “workforce housing” as your next door neighbor like home owners will. AND if you don’t see this as a tool of solicalism, then you need turn off CNN and study history. Let’s start with studying Venezuela’s history. It’s all about control and power.
I think we can all agree that the Biden loving Veach needs to go
VEACH OFF THE BEACH
Second
I agree. Veach and Allers (both pushing work force housing) need to go
Shouldn’t the residents –
The Owners – the Property Taxpayers have a say in this ???
Not if council has their way
He said it himself. “ Workforce housing for “Low-moderate income” full time island workers. But God forbid, not in his neighborhood! So how many restaurant workers work full time? Bartenders? Retail employees? If any of them qualify for the income threshold! Count most of them out!
And do go too far south! The commute from end to end is worse than getting off/on island! More congestion for north end with this plan of Government housing! Work on what needs fixing now!
Well said INGA –
Veach only cares about turtles, beach berms, and workforce housing, of course none of the issues the residents of the island want, like permitting, cleaning up the mess, reduced taxes and fees to help recover. GET VEACH OF THE BEACH!
Transportation is clearly the problem for workers and others. San Carlos blvd is certainly wide enough for an express public transit lane.
Really there is only a need for one lane leaving the island . The bottle necks are on island before the bridge.
Ferries are another solution. Sanibel / Captiva utilizes them for hospitality workers.
We can have ferries come to Bowditch , Moss marine or Livers Key Boat ramp.
Then utilize trams and shuttles. This would reduce traffic and parking.
The above ideas require coordination with county and state with strong leadership from FMB.
Wow! A lot of people need to stop throwing out words and phrases before they actually know and understand what they mean. Workforce housing is not low income, it’s affordable for the people in service industries that help you! I think this is a great idea!
And stop criticizing city council. Their responsibility is for the residents of the island. Sure, tourism helps pay some costs, but its people who live here that they are responsible for. Keeping, and bringing in more, families is what is going to keep this town going; and, keep this “vibe” everyone is talking about, not the big resorts.
I think it’s an absolutely wonderful idea and plan. We must help our Island families…They’re the soul of our island. Stronger community…Our school will be safe…and the “Family Island” will survive! We will never have this opportunity again. FMB Strong!
And…. Our Churches will be saved, too!
They keep saying workforce or affordable housing. Who determines what is affordable and to who? Where’s the numbers? If I’m building a housing development, I’m selling it or renting it to who pays the most money.
LeeCo has a chart showing what each term means, including the varying percentages of AMI and rent maximums for each category (e.g. workforce housing, low income housing, et al.)
For example, a single person in LeeCo can make as much as $83k/yr and qualify for workforce housing; rent on a 1BR is capped at $2200/mo and a 2BR at $2600/mo.
I would like to know where the STR fees are going. I know we aren’t paying them this year because of Ian, but as soon as we can start renting again, they’ll be re-instated. They went from $50 a year to $300 in one year. Now it’s going up again. They are going to charge us $100 per bedroom. Something stinks. The old mayor told me the money was going to help the island workers. I would like to know if the hotels and resorts are going to be paying too? They have a larger turn out than rental properties and charge more.
If these housing projects go through, will the powers that be stop charging us.
As far as workforce living, not everyone lives where they work anywhere. Most of the employees lived off island anyway before Ian
The project at Beach Baptist is a bad idea also. The Pastor has done a lot for the community but to build a 500 seat church, not realistic. How many people attend that church off season? How many in season?
I’m not against affordable house but if the town lets one in, there’ll be more.
Just like the hight of the building that Beach Babtist wants to build. 8 stories will open a can of worms just Margaritaville did. I’m not against change but FMB is going to lose its small town feel.
The berm is another whole story lol. That berm is going to disappear when the first big storm hits and washes it out into the gulf. The beach is changing constantly and Mother Nature takes care of her own.
Sounds unconstitutional to me by discriminating against the STR’s, it’s time to get rid of this council especially liberal Veach. “Get off the Beach Veach” campaign who only cares about sea turtles unless it interferes with his ridiculous berm debacle, BIGGEST MAN-MADE disaster on FMB. Your right these berms are going to push upland during storms and cause stagnant water, weeds, sticker bushes, snakes, rats, and trash continually burdening the upland owners that were ill informed about them giving up an easement rights, for nothing, foolish.
Because we busted our butts to work our way out of a low income situation and cannot afford a hit on property values that are adjacent to the church. John do you live anywhere in the vicinity of the proposed “low income housing”? Check out the impact of the haphazard trailer community currently behind the Baptist Church.
Workforce housing is not the same thing as low income housing. Sheesh.
How about San Carlos? There’s a bevy of possibilities just over the bridge. Likely at a lower buy in, too.
Absolutely!
When do we vote for City Council membership? This fall?
Great time to vote them out two of which don’t even own anything on the beach.
Agreed
Any elected servant in Florida can be recalled after serving 1/4th of their term. All one has to do is gather enough signatures to call for a referendum. You don’t have to wait til the fall, but you do have to start if you want them out.
Seriously?? The City of Ft Myers each is on overload rebuilding our beach community much less construction, maintenance and management of workforce housing. The proposal requires another layer of city government at the local property owner’s expense. Our island is a bedroom community without a booming demand for workforce housing that you might find in metropolitan areas. Mr. Veach, time to move on, your talents are better suited for urban metropolitan workforce projects.
Anyone ever think of a water taxi system to avoid the bridge traffic?
Great idea!
Great idea!
Love this idea
Socialism…”Work Force Housing” is code for government-controlled housing given to those beholding to the “Political Apparatchik”. The Party Bosses decide who is worthy of the privilege.
Just imagine the criteria. It will not just be for those who work on the Island. The city managers will also need to take into account equity, diversity and inclusion. How is this going to be managed? And take into account the potential for cronyism.
Many of us moved to Florida in order to get away from these social engineering experiments. I moved from the Bay Area of California. Funny thing is that even in liberal California, city administrators would never propose constructing “Work-Force Housing” into high end zip codes. The Californians are very careful to protect the high value of their homes. As crazy as this seems, maybe the Californians got at least one thing right.
Why Church property? On the list of priorities, shouldn’t rebuilding places of worship, the backbone of any and every society, be near if not at the top of the list? Oh, I forgot, FMB, as the movers and shakers envision it, is destined to be a “luxury flip flop” destination and community focused on how many high-density resorts, restaurants and bars they can cram onto this salty sliver of sand on the Gulf of Mexico.
“Let’s address the issue concerning Veach’s actions and proposals. I believe his performance has been unsatisfactory from the start, as he seems solely focused on turtle preservation, the implementation of an inefficient berm system, and the provision of workforce housing. It’s disheartening that he hasn’t contributed significantly to the recovery process or improved the permitting system. Considering we are a small 6-mile island, it’s questionable why we even require workforce housing when people can commute from off the island. We’re not living in a bustling metropolis like Los Angeles, New York, or Miami, making this expenditure seem unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers’ money. It feels like these decisions are being imposed upon us without considering our opinions.”
What Veach is proposing is the likes of Section 8 housing. If you’re not familiar with Section 8 housing, research what it is and how it has effected the areas where the government has subsidized it. Workforce housing is just a fancy name for low income housing. And with low income housing comes violent crime, theft, vandalism among other problems. Lets be practical instead of a dreamer. Is there workforce housing in Beverly Hills? How about Martha’s Vinyard? Maybe Manhattan Island? The workforce commutes to their work, it’s a fact of life. Then there is the issue of asking the tax payers to provide housing for a workforce that benefits private business. Let private business provide housing for their workers. Don’t use my tax money to provide it.
Rob I agree with you.The Beach is to small for this.and they surly don’t have this on MARTHA’S VINYARD.
There are several parcels of vacant land just off island: where the trailer parks were destroyed off of San Carlos and Main, next to the VFW off San Carlos and Pine Ridge, just to name a few. Why aren’t these parcels not being considered for workforce housing?
Good idea- better idea
👍
It’s about the workforce already being on the island so they don’t waste so much time getting over the bridge; especially during the season. I’ve wanted to work on the beach, but it would take too much time and gas to make it worth my while. If I remember right, Sanibel used to have housing for their workers. Why not FMB?
Build workforce housing on the mainland and have a good, reliable transportation system.
NO NO NO LOW INCOME HOUSING, IF WE WANTED TO LIVE NEXT TO LOW INCOME HOUSING WE WOULD HAVE BOUGHT IN FORT MYERS, LEHIGH, THE CAPE OR EVEN BETTER GOLDEN GATE. 7 MILES OF SAND WHY ENTER INTO A LOW INCOME HOUSING? LET THIS MONEY GO TO AN AREA OF LEE COUNTY THAT REALLY NEEDS IT LIKE ZIP CODE 33905 IN NORTH FORT MYERS. I AM HAPPY LIVING GUILT FREE WITH ALL THE MONEY I WORKED MY ASS OFF FOR TO LIVE ON A ISLAND. NO INHERITANCE OR HAND OUT GAVE ME THE ABILITY TO BUY A HOME ON THE ISLAND. LOW INCOME HOUSING WILL ONLY DESTROY SOMEONE’S PROPERTY VALUE THAT IS NEAR IT. BILL YOU COULD SPILT YOUR BEACHFRONT LOT AND PUT A FEW UNITS UP FOR THE PROJECT. WHY ARE WE ALWAYS LOOKING TO SUPPORT COMMERCIAL BUSINESS? FOCUS ON THE RESIDENTS WHO OWN NOW, THE NATURAL BEAUTY, WILDLIFE, NO MORE COMMERCIAL HANDOUTS OR GOVERNMENT OWNED ANYTHING. THE CHURCHES NEED TO DIG INTO THE POCKETS OF THEIR MEMBERS FOR DONATIONS TO BUILD OR REPAIR. THE CHURCHES SHOULD HAVE MEMBER BOARDS IF THEY ARE TRULY A CHURCH WITH PEOPLE ATTENDING. THEY NEED TO DECIDE THE OUTCOME OF FACILITIES AND LAND. MAYBE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE AND QUIT ASKING THE COMMUNITY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS THAT WERE CREATED BY BREAKING ALL THE RULES OF RESPONSIBLE BUILDING/LAND OWNERS AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT OUTCOME. WHY AS A RESIDENT AM I BEING ASKED TO THINK ABOUT A COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SELLING LAND TO THE GOVERNMENT TO SOLVE HOUSING NEEDS FOR OTHER COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES TO HOUSE STAFF. PAY YOUR STAFF MORE AND YOU WILL ATTRACT GOOD QUALITY STAFF TO WORK AT YOUR OPERATION OR MOVE YOUR BUSINESS INLAND. 7 MILES OF SAND WHY MORE COMMERCIAL OR GOVERNMENT OWNED PROPERTY? UNLESS IT IS COMPANY WITH EXTREME DEEP POCKETS WHO ALREADY HAS A HISTORY OF GOOD RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES WHY ARE WE EVEN LISTENING. CHARM YES, HALFASS LET’S BUILD THIS HAS GOT TO STOP, THE RESIDENTS WHO OWN ON THIS ISLAND DO NOT GIVE A FLIP ABOUT MORE BUSINESS BEING OPENED. UNITS WILL RENT REGARDLESS IF WE HAVE BARS AND DINING ON EVERY CORNER, PEOPLE COME FOR THE BEACH AND THE BAY. THIS SHOULD AT LEAST BE LEFT TO A VOTE BY RESIDENTS. BILL YOU CAN SIT ON A TON OF NON PROFIT DIRECTOR BOARDS IN FORT MYERS AND WORK YOUR MAGIC FOR GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS IN OTHER ZIP CODES IF THAT IS YOUR PASSION. I AM SURE THEY WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU. UNLESS THE GOVERNMENT MONEY IS TO HELP CURRENT HOME/LAND OWNERS RECOVER THAN WHY WOULD YOU BE WASTING OUR ELECTED COUNCILMAN ENERGIES FOR THIS TYPE OF PROJECT? FOCUS MAN
Spot On!
Really? Entitled much
Though the “live where you work” concept is nice, it’s really not feasible anymore….especially here on an expensive paradise isle. Look at the rest of the country. This concept is also called “residency”, which, if you look throughout the country, is going away slowly, due to cost of living increases. How many 21 year old servers can afford rents in paradise…especially in low season? And Captain O is right….how does one police who gets a place and who doesn’t? When someone gets a place, and then stops working, do they move out and make room for another worker? That will be a nightmare policing that.
The “workforce housing” was supposed to be built right over the bridge…..what happened to that???
Reading between the lines Veach wants to offer the church a lowball offer in their very time of need of funds to rebuild. Take advantage of the fact they didn’t have insurance and put a nail in the coffin? Then after that set up a point system for people. So what if someone stops working on the beach? You kick them out right? That only seems fair since this is a beach business venture. So as long as you are a beach employee you get housing. If not you get the boot? Seems the town should stay out of the rental business and concentrate on rebuilding and cleaning up the mess they already have. Beach is the only leftover from the previous regime. Can hardly tell!!!