| Palm Beach County might take the assembly-line approach to producing affordable housing.
Factory-built, modular homes are one of the options being considered by county officials trying to encourage more reduced-price homes.
Billed as higher quality than mobile homes and less expensive than houses built from the ground up, the prefabricated modular homes could provide a cost-effective housing alternative -- if residents accept them.
County officials are meeting with representatives of companies that produce the homes and plan to tour a production plant later this month.
The next step would be identifying county land or other locations where companies could build the homes as models to gauge public reaction.
"I don't want to [suggest] something I would not live in myself," said Assistant County Administrator Verdenia Baker, who heads the county's affordable housing effort. "I don't want people coming out and saying, `Not in my neighborhood.' "
With median home prices hovering near $400,000, local leaders have raised concerns that low- and middle-income workers could get priced out of Palm Beach County.
County commissioners this year started requiring developers to limit prices on about 11 to 20 percent of homes in most new neighborhoods. The "affordable homes" would be priced between $164,000 and $304,000.
The county also created a land trust to acquire property that could be used to build low-cost homes.
Orleans Community Housing could use some of that land for its modular homes, which cost between $150,000 and $175,000 and would be move-in ready within four months, Executive Director Peter Waxman said.
The company produces three- and four-bedroom homes with two bathrooms, built in sections at a factory and shipped to sites where they are assembled on concrete foundations.
With wide front porches and pitched roofs, the homes are built in a "Florida style" that could fit in with Palm Beach County neighborhoods, said Waxman who plans to host Baker on a tour of his plant.
Waxman said his homes, built to withstand hurricane winds, are already under construction in the New Orleans area and models are planned in Punta Gorda.
"Our mission is to provide access to affordable housing," Waxman said.
Royal Concrete Concepts also wants a piece of Palm Beach County's affordable housing market, said company representative Paul Davisson, who also met with county officials.
The company produces all-concrete, modular homes built at its plant west of West Palm Beach. The factory produces pieces of homes in 12-foot by 36-foot sections, with plumbing and electrical wire already included, which get shipped to sites and assembled on concrete foundations.
"We piece them together like Legos," Davisson said.
The Royal Concrete Concepts homes can withstand 185 mph winds and sell between $80,000 and $220,000, Davisson said. They are move-in ready within 45 days, he said.
Modular homes could be one way to provide more affordable housing, said Mike Jones, president of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County.
The Economic Council launched the Housing Leadership Council, a coalition of business leaders formed to explore affordable housing solutions.
Builders of the usual, site-built homes are also lining up to build reduced-price homes on county land, Baker.
The county listens to "all ideas," but too many developers want land for free along with long-term tax-breaks, Baker said.
"Just let them come in and build on the property and take all the profits -- I don't think the taxpayers want us to do that," Baker said.
Tom Rucker, of Palm Beach Gardens, wrote the county on Monday asking to buy 100 acres south of Dyer Boulevard and west of Haverhill Road near West Palm Beach.
He proposes a mix of houses, town houses and apartments, which he said he could sell for less than $200,000 if the county cuts the cost of the land.
"There are thousands of acres laying around here that cities and the county could be utilizing," Rucker said. "We don't need more parks."
Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-635-6747.
|
