Spotlight On: Carol Jones-Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer, Palm Beach County Housing Authority
October 2023 — Carol Jones-Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of the Palm Beach County Housing Authority (PBCHA), talked to Invest: about the rampant needs for affordable housing in the county. She also highlighted how public authorities are working with both private developers and nonprofits to address those needs and what the main factors driving the demand for affordable housing are.
What are the most important milestones that the Palm Beach County Housing Authority reached over the past year?
The PBCHA had to close our offices during the COVID-19 pandemic as there was not enough space for social distancing in our previous office. A key milestone for PBCHA was moving to a new location at 3333 Forest Hill Blvd that has more space and allows us to adequately accommodate more people. The pandemic also required the PBCHA to focus on new ways to use technology to better serve our clients, so we purchased kiosks that enable clients to come in and do most of the functions required for program compliance utilizing the kiosk. The PBCHA has focused our clientele, including seniors, on using technology to receive services and requires all clients to have an email address for electronic communication.
During this time, the PBCHA also grew its Resident Services department and engaged in several programs such as Jobs Plus, Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA), Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS), Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) program all aimed at assisting residents and helping them to reach their goals.
What are the most important projects that the Palm Beach County Housing Authority has in its pipeline?
We are repurposing our old office space at 3432 5th Street to build 48 one- and two-bedroom shipping container apartment units. This project will be the first multi-story shipping container apartment project in Florida. We are using it as a proof of concept for shipping container construction to showcase the advantages. This type of construction offers the advantage of lower material costs and better speed-to-market compared to traditional construction. We anticipate breaking ground sometime in November, and are looking at a nine-month construction schedule, which beats the 18 to 36 months of traditional construction . These units will serve families at 80% or below of area median income, with a select of units allocated for persons with AIDS through HOPWA funding.
What are the most important challenges that the Palm Beach County Housing Authority had to tackle in the past year?
Staffing became and continues to be a major issue. This is not a unique problem to the Palm Beach County Housing Authority. Several housing authorities and businesses across the US are also finding it difficult to find and keep the right people in the right seats to do the work that is needed. PBCHA cannot just pull someone off the street and have them calculate rent, determine eligibility, and comply with the applicable regulations. A lot of training goes into getting our team members ready to do their job.
We also face the challenge of increases in property insurance, which in our case has reached more than 74%. More of the dollars we need to operate housing are going toward paying insurance while less goes to staffing and other operational needs. We continue to see rents going up, sometimes to the point that people who have a voucher are still struggling to find housing even with the rental assistance..
How would you describe the current state of affordable housing in Palm Beach County?
A large number of families in Palm Beach County fall below 80% of area median income and the need for affordable housing is tremendous. The PBCHA received over 19,000 applications for our public housing program between June and December of 2022, but only has 428 units. We received more than 16,000 applications for our Housing Choice Voucher program during this same period. This speaks to the incredible amount of need for which there is an extremely limited supply.
HUD developed new programs in an effort to address the housing problem of some of the most vulnerable populations. For instance, there are emergency housing vouchers to help the homeless, those at risk of homelessness and victims of human trafficking or sex trafficking. The Palm Beach County Housing Authority received 85 of those vouchers and partnered with the CoC to rapidly lease all of them. The allocation of Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) vouchers enabled the PBCHA to be the first Housing Authority in the state of Florida to administer these vouchers which assist youth between the ages of 18-24 to receive rental assistance and case management. Our partnerships with ChildNet and Vita Nova allowed the PBCHA to be named among the Innovators Class of FYI PHAs resulting in the state of Florida requesting the highest number of vouchers of any state for the first three years! It will take programs, collaboration, and action to positively change the state of affordable housing in Palm Beach County.
What demographic sectors or areas of Palm Beach County show the highest growth in demand for affordable housing?
We are seeing more homelessness across all demographic sectors. Our programs serve those families that have an income of 50% or less of the area median income of Palm Beach County.. Housing Authorities target families at 30% of the area median income as for these families, there are not many options for them besides subsidized housing. There is a major need for housing at the lower end of the income spectrum. We need housing opportunities for our teachers, police officers and firefighters, but also the disabled, homeless and low-income retail and fast-food workers. We continue to see increases in homelessness for seniors, youth, veterans and families.
How are municipalities working with housing developers to serve the need for affordable housing?
The PBCHA’s shipping container project on 45th street, is a collaborative effort between the city, county and state. At the state level, we were able to take advantage of statute FS 166.04151 that allows us to build residential units in an industrially zoned area. Palm Beach County worked with PBCHA to award $5.5 million through the American Rescue Plan to this project. The PBCHA also collaborated with the City of West Palm Beach to obtain 1.25 million in HOME and HOPWA funds. These funds coupled with a loan from Florida Community Loan Fund and land owned by SPECTRA, the PBCHA’s nonprofit, made the project possible.
The PBCHA continues to look for ways to use tools like the Housing Bond that recently passed, the Live Local Act, HUD programs and any other funding opportunities to work with private developers, non-profits, and other housing authorities to develop housing across the entire income spectrum and address all housing needs.
What are the main factors that make it difficult for housing to remain affordable in Palm Beach County?
The influx of people from higher cost areas is driving up market rent prices. Increases in property taxes, mortgage rates and property insurance costs, as well as cost of living increases contribute to higher rents. It makes it hard for people not just to find housing but to stay housed. Some landlords also have a stigma against low-income families who simply cannot compete with market-rate renters who may offer a year’s rent upfront. Additionally, as property insurance goes up, it pushes owners to pass that cost onto renters in the form of higher rents. Rents are outstripping what the Palm Beach County Housing Authority can provide in terms of rental assistance, so we have to find creative ways to address this issue and prioritize serving our most vulnerable populations.
What kind of partnerships is the Palm Beach Housing Authority developing to address the need for affordable housing?
We are open to partnering with any municipality, non-profit and/or private developers who seek to address the need for affordable housing. We are excited about the partnership with Related Affordable on the Lake Worth Towers project as it gave the PBCHA an opportunity to provide housing assistance in the municipality of Lake Worth Beach. We were recently awarded a $1.5 million YouthBuild grant through the Department of Labor that requires us to collaborate with community partners to work with low-income, justice-involved youth between the ages of 16-24 to provide job training and educational services. We linked that grant with our shipping container housing project to enable these youth to learn a construction trade in the up-and-coming niche market of container construction. The PBCHA continues to seek innovative partnerships and opportunities not just to expand its services and grow its housing portfolio but to impact lives.
What are the most pressing infrastructure needs that Palm Beach County needs to address as it continues expanding?
Housing and transportation continue to be an issue for low-income families. Employment and economic opportunities are also issues within low income communities.. Schooling is another important area as there has been an increase in the number of homeless students, and schools are now needing to play a different role than they played in the past. We need to find ways to align health, transportation, education and the economy to work together as the needs are multidimensional.
What regulations are you looking out for that could affect the affordability of housing in Palm Beach County?
Mainly the continued funding of new and existing HUD and other housing programs. Regulations that prioritize full funding for affordable housing and community development programs. Public housing is one of the oldest housing assistance tools available, but there is an unmet backlog of capital improvement needs that must be funded for continued preservation. HUD has major program legislation coming out called the Housing Opportunities through Modernization Act (HOTMA)that will make substantial changes for many housing programs in the way rent is calculated for the first time since 1937. One change is that income deductions given to families will be adjusted annually to keep up with inflation, which will increase the amount of money that families retain to build assets and encourage wealth generation.
Also, local and state initiatives and resources for the development of affordable housing such as SAIL, SHIP, the housing bond, and Live Local Act along with regulations that expand housing subsidies to low-income households.
What are the top priorities of the Palm Beach County Housing Authority for the next two to three years?
Our most important priority is housing as many families as possible and maximizing our funding to put every dollar to use.. To do this, we must take advantage of funding opportunities as they come available to build and preserve affordable housing units and meet the needs of the communities that we serve. The PBCHA will continue to engage in programs aimed at not just building units but building resilient families. Additionally, making sure that the PBCHA meets the needs of its employees to retain and recruit good talent that enables the Palm Beach County Housing Authority to better serve our community.
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