RIVIERA BEACH, Fla.-- Studies show the cost of living in Palm Beach County is higher than the national average. In places like Riviera Beach, rent is $1,200 on average and owning a home can run over $300,000.
Riviera Beach officials say affordable housing is a national issue and cities either have to be reactive or proactive about the problem.
Louise Prichard, says she loves her family but she never thought at 75 years old she’d be forced to live with them. She says the average rent in Riviera Beach combined with unemployment took its toll.
“Talk about the struggle,” said Prichard. “It’s so surreal.”
That was until she moved into Heron Estates Senior Apartments in Riviera Beach. A $22 million, 101-unit affordable housing complex. Tenants who are 62 years or older and earn less than $23,000 a year pay either a flat rate of $870 or 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income.
“Don’t let this development be the last,” said Prichard. “There’s so many people and there are so many more places such as this that are needed.”
The city's Housing Authority says through public partnerships with private developers Housing Trust Group of Florida, affordable housing in Riviera Beach is a reality.
A separate 79-unit, one to three-bedroom affordable workforce housing development is also on the way for veterans and families.
“We want to develop wherever we have an opportunity to develop,” said Jeffrey Jackson, Riviera Beach Housing Authority chair. “Certainly we want to be able to serve those families.”
“We’re talking about looking at it from multiple angles – how do we provide the inventory for affordable housing and how do we raise wages and wealth and opportunity do the community holistically,” added Riviera Beach City Manager Jonathan E. Evans.
Ground will be broken on the workforce family housing development in six-months and it will take another 12 months of construction. The $18 million project will be located on the same 15-acre site.