Mayor D.C. Reeves has received pushback on social media over the recent Wall Street Journal article concerning the increase of million-dollar homes sold in the greater Pensacola area. He has repeatedly said that more housing, regardless of its price point, helps ease the affordable housing crisis.
“If I had one wish of the information that I could just magically convey to 55,000 people in this city right now, it’s a two- or three-minute education on just that fact more housing helps the community because there is such an us-versus-them mentality about housing,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate because if we snapped our fingers and had 500 market-rate units, like you’ve heard me talk about before, all that does is open up the additional opportunity for affordability for someone else,” Reeves said. “But we somehow fall into this trap of you’re either doing one or the other. If you see if it goes across ARB (Architectural Review Board) or city council that a market rate building’s coming up, you can rest assured that everyone on social media or Facebook comments will say, ‘Well, you don’t care about people who don’t make less money.”
He added, “And it’s that term I use with you all the time—we pat our head, rub our belly. We can do these both, and we have to.”
The mayor said it would be irresponsible to ban market-rate housing until developers build more affordable housing.
“That would be such a poor strategic decision for the city,” Reeves said. “And so, there’s a big disconnect with folks that don’t follow that as closely that I wish I could convey…When I’ve been in a Rotary Club or when I’ve gotten a couple minutes just to be able to explain why we need both of these things, people tend to understand it. But I think folks who’d maybe not follow it as closely think I see people building $800,000 houses or 2 million condos, and then that must mean that you don’t care about people who are in a more vulnerable state.
He asserted that building $800,000 homes or $2 million condominiums doesn’t mean one doesn’t care about “people who are in a more vulnerable state.” Mayor Reeves described the city’s efforts to sell the former Pensacola Sports site to provide the most tax revenue and the solicitation of proposals to convert Pensacola Motor Lodge into temporary housing as a “perfect microcosm.”
He said, “We’re working on both these things at the exact same time.”
Listen to the podcast here.
It most certainly is “us vs them.”
My house was once affordable but now my insurance rates have skyrocketed. Maintenance on my house is a constant struggle because the city has ignored the flooding and the sewage overflows for decades, and now fill and build are washing out our properties and flooding homes and businesses because of of stormwater runoff from unpermited french drains.
And let’s not ignore that runoff has human waste in it that ends up in the waterways at the multimillion dollar beautification project with hardscape at Bruce Beach.
Still waiting for relief- eight years!
So, those that are struggling get to live in a rehabbed, decades old hotel known by law enforcement to be a hotbed for drugs and prostitution, on the far western edge of the city. But the rich folk get million dollar condos and houses in the heart of our downtown. Very cool.
I think the solution is to bring innovation to the housing development ecosystem. There are mixed-income/mixed-use holistic communities. The challenge is building places that any income level would want to live there. The mayor is correct ”it not us vs them” there is a balance of product types within a master planned development that could include affordable apartments, for sale attainable housing and market rate options. The key is creating the “sense of place” and amenities that attracts all levels of income and diverse people interested in a holistic community environment that includes, eating, entertainment and education options.