On July 12, public comments will be closed on the Sussex County workforce housing record. Then, county council will make recommendations to approve or change what planning & zoning has approved regarding workforce housing. What is workforce housing? Basically, it is discounted rental apartments for the workforce in the coastal areas. Builders of these apartment complexes have to meet certain criteria and have a percentage of units saved for affordable, discounted rents for the workforce. The map can be found by going to the county website, where you can also find the draft of the proposal approved by planning & zoning. First, this is a dialogue that I believe needs to continue, not close the file on public comments July 12. Next, creating apartments that are at a discounted rent for our workforce in the coastal area will create one thing – lifelong renters. While some residents enjoy living in a rental unit with no maintenance responsibilities and no lawn to maintain, my bet is that there are plenty of folks in the workforce housing market that would dream to become homeowners.
Solution? Tax a developer $5,000 per home, and put this money in a fund for first-time homebuyers in the workforce housing program. Make this available for a down payment that, you guessed it, will go right back to the developer. Developers would be required to have a percentage of base price, basic and affordable starter homes in each and every development under market value available for the workforce so these folks too can become homeowners. Then, developers would be allowed a fixed-price increase of a certain percentage if the workforce owner chooses to sell, keeping that home in the program. A down payment would come from the fund, and the workforce employee would become a mortgage holder and a homeowner. Win-win situation. I also suggest that for apartment complexes in the workforce program, they should be self-sufficient and have space for a market, bank or retail stores such as the Villages of Five Points in Lewes. This would create less traffic on our roads.
Putting people in a rent-controlled apartment creates renters for life. More apartment complexes will have to be built to cover the new workforce employees coming in, and our beautiful area will look like Route 1 in Ocean City in no time. Why not be forward thinkers and find a way to tax the mega-millionaire builders and create a home-buying program? Sounds like a good idea to me.
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
