Best community housing design for Global Awards shortlisted
LOS ANGELES: The shortlist for the best community housing design has been declared.
Over 250 designs have been considered by the awards secretariat. One of the finalists in this category is shown above.
The Sarasota Housing Action Plan – commissioned by the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, The Patterson Foundation, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation – proposes several strategies, key among them the creation of a recurring revenue source for affordable housing based on a commission-determined percentage of rising property tax income from new development.
The idea initially stemmed from recommendations by the county’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council and is strongly backed by area chambers, employers and nonprofits. A majority of the new county commission also appears to support it and decided to hold a workshop after the summer to hammer out details.
While other tools are necessary, says Matt Sauer, collaboration and impact officer with the Barancik Foundation, a sustainable revenue stream is badly needed for a community-wide problem that neither philanthropy nor the market can solve on their own.
The recurring revenue source would put the county in the driver’s seat on affordable housing, advocates say, opening an array of options, from buying land to providing gap funding to developers to get them over the finish line on true workforce and affordable housing.
“That is the big shot in the arm, no doubt about it,” Sauer said. “That is the Holy Grail.”
The Global Award winner will be announced in December in London. (Globals)