
Presented courtesy of

Volusia County Updates Affordable Housing Plan
Affordable housing is a major challenge facing governments across the country, with the issue emerging as one of the major topics of debate during the recent presidential election.
According to Brad Burbaugh, Volusia County community services director, housing is defined as affordable when the monthly rent or cost of ownership does not exceed 30% of the household’s monthly income. He said affordable housing is an issue when unavailable when households become cost-burdened by spending a large portion of their income on housing without sufficient funding to address their other needs, such as food and medical, or when residents leave and will commute to work making it difficult to retain or attract workers or when residents become homeless.
“According to the 2024 Annual Report recently published by the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies, Volusia County has sufficient affordable and available rental housing stock when looking at the residents with income up to 120% of the Area Median Income ($69,600 for a one-person household),” Burbaugh said. “When looking at the same data for residents with income up to 80% of the Area Median Income ($46,400 for a one-person household), there is a deficit of 10,566 rental units. Although we have seen an improvement from last year in the higher-income level with Volusia County now having a surplus of units, there is still a gap for lower-income households. There is not enough rental housing to accommodate the working families and individuals seeking housing.”
It is also an issue that local governments have wrestled with not only as a quality-of-life issue, but as part of economic development efforts.
“Affordable housing is critical for economic development because it sustains a more diverse and resilient workforce,” said Economic Development Director Lou Paris. “When employees can afford to live near their jobs, it reduces commute times, boosts productivity and improves their quality of life. It also benefits local businesses by ensuring an affordable, dependable, and accessible talent pool. Additionally, affordable housing attracts diverse populations, which strengthens communities, sparks innovation and drives economic growth through increased spending.”
Paris said housing availability is an important tool in attracting new business development.
“Affordable housing also encourages business investment, as companies are more likely to operate in areas where their employees can live comfortably,” he said. “These investments create jobs ranging from construction to retail and contribute to long-term economic activity through property taxes and local spending. By addressing housing affordability, communities foster a stronger, more resilient economy.”
While the Florida Legislature passed the Live Local Act in 2023 to encourage development of more affordable housing options statewide, Volusia County is in the third year of a five-year effort address barriers to home ownership.
In 2022 the Volusia County Council approved The Path Forward – Strategies for Success, to create and implement plans to increase housing opportunities. The effort began with an Affordable Housing Workshop held by the County Council in 2021 with five webinars and several virtual interactive sessions to follow. The yearlong program concluded with a Housing Summit at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.
The Path Forward report is the result of those meetings and sessions authored by the county’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. Earlier this month the County Council approved updates to the strategic plan.
The updated plan includes several strategies to address the affordable housing issue, beginning with efforts to create a supportive environment for community land trusts – nonprofit organizations that provide lasting community assets and shared equity homeownership opportunities for families and communities.
The plan also aims to maximize existing funding streams for the “highest and best use” to preserve and create new affordable housing capacity; creation of a supportive environment of new affordable housing development through effective communication and collaboration; creation of an affordable housing trust fund; modification of the comprehensive plan to include an affordable housing review team to decrease the time and expense to build affordable housing; inclusion of an affordable housing overlay in the comprehensive plan; offering of options for fee waivers and deferrals and density bonuses for affordable housing projects; creation of an affordable housing ordinance; and allowing for “reasonable administrative modification” to zoning requirements.
The report also contains time frames and action steps for implementing the objectives. An appendix of the report includes a white paper on housing trust funds from the Florida Housing Coalition.
