Daytona Beach Amends Development Code for Affordable Housing

An amendment to the Daytona Beach land development passed earlier this month gives the city leverage in increasing the amount of affordable housing in the community. The amendment adds provisions to determine eligibility for the waiver or reimbursement of development and impact fees for affordable housing projects.

According to the staff report prepared for the meeting, the amendment adds a definition for affordable housing incentive agreements, includes moderate-income residents in the definition of qualifying households, clarifies when certain types of multifamily units are eligible to receive administrative incentives, requires an application for the incentive and separates fee waivers from fee reimbursements.

The measure passed unanimously on second reading without discussion. But during the public comment period, resident John Nicholson.

“I have a problem with this,” Nicholson said. “It’s basically a Catch-22.”

Nicholson said while the change is designed to create housing for young families and young people in the city, the fee amendment allows developers of affordable housing to forego development and impact fees for services and amenities new homeowners will need.

“Those are the exact same people that need parks, that need the police, fire, roads … all those fees will be waived,” Nicholson said. “They need these things but they aren’t going to have to pay for them.”

Nicholson referenced a study completed in 2022 to identify ways to encourage developers to build affordable housing units in the city and said there needs to be a realistic definition of what constitutes affordable housing.

“Is it $300,000, is it $400,000?” he said. “Those are things we have to look at.”

Mayor Derrick Henry said ne didn’t need a study to tell him affordable housing is a problem.

“I don’t need anyone to tell me we need affordable housing,” he said. “I see it, I live it. It is the most pronounced problem in this community, period.”