By Mike Switzer, Workforce Florida

In case you had not already received this through the YahooGroup or other distributions, here is the summary of the 12/13 interagency/inter-FBCO meeting on the exacerbating Affordable/Workforce Housing crisis, also noting some remaining hurricane evacuee/displacement challenges. This ad hoc working group continues to meet weekly by teleconference, with regular WFI (Workforce Florida Inc.) and intermittent AWI (Agency for Workforce Innovation) staff participation. Several RWBs (Regional Workforce Boards) and local homeless service providers have chimed in on their local efforts in response to this summary. Four more related events are on the horizon:

-a 1/20 meeting hosted by Florida Council of Churches, Florida Catholic Council, and Florida Impact discussing 2 priority legislative concerns: Medicaid and Affordable Housing. (Switzer & Jody Hill, FIND planning to attend/discuss)

-an early February meeting arranged by Florida Catholic Conference and Community Affairs (Sean Lewis) specifically addressing the problem of what to do about the chronic homeless in disaster response, when they are not usually welcome in emergency shelters. (Switzer invited, with DCF, Elder Affairs, State Homelessness, Red Cross, Volunteer Florida, etc.)

-a pre-session (date not set) follow-up meeting of the Affordable Housing Working Group focusing on issues and advocacy points for state legislative action, including the Sadowski fund cap, increased funding for the Florida Housing Finance Corp, greater emphasis on the need for more rental units, some state law (and NIMBY) barriers to increasing affordable housing, special farmworker housing issues, etc. (Switzer to attend, but advocacy strategy to be lead by FIND, Jody Hill)

-at the February 15 WFI Partners meeting, James Finch at AWI will lead a discussion/debriefing on the 2004-2005 hurricane responses, lessons learned and preparations for the next hurricane seasons and other potential disasters. (e.g. avian flu pandemic, “un-natural” disaster, etc.)

If others of you know of related activities/initiatives, please let me know. And feel free to pass this along to others as you see appropriate.

You may recall that a group of FBCOs, local community organizations and others involved in hurricane/disaster response recently collectively came to the conclusion that we have a much more pervasive underlying problem in Florida of inadequate, dwindling supply of affordable/”workforce” housing while encountering growing demand, and spikes of need worsened with each hurricane season. So under the broad umbrella of Florida’s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (FLVOAD), we have been meeting every week by phone and had a face-to-face meeting in Winter Park on December 13, 2005, where I facilitated.

A summary of that meeting (pdf, 23K) and list of attendees (pdf, 13K) shows great diversity of geography and organizations taking increasing interest in the issue, including most major church social welfare agencies, multiple state and local United Way chapters, the national services including Red Cross, FEMA and Salvation Army, local homelessness services, state agencies/programs such as Workforce Florida Inc. and at least information from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

The excellent summary provides some basic statistics partially illustrating the need, the brainstormed catalogue of the barriers and impediments, some viable opportunities to improve supply/access, a list of actionable steps, and a set of advocacy points. We know that most Regional Workforce Boards and other local partners are well aware of the housing problems encountered by low-income customers, and increasingly moderate-income workers, often destabilizing their employment situations, not to mention their family and personal lives.

So we invite you to consider the summary and pass it along to any local partners also working on the problem. And where you see opportunities for advocacy at local or state levels, please join in the effort. You may also wish to scan the list of attendees for familiar names or potential local partners. And if you have opportunities, needs, suggestions, best practices or other comments to share, you can send them to me or Jody Hill at FIND, Florida Interfaith Networking in Disastser.