WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Annie Nelson bought a house in Palm Beach County 28 years ago.
She said the county has changed since then.
"There's so many people that are actually just being pushed out of living in this county and it's not fair," she said. "It's really not fair that now that this county has become a county of only the rich.”
The younger generation of Nelson's family can't afford to live in Palm Beach County. "Well, they're in their 20s and they're in their 30s and some are in their 40s, and they're moving from place to place, and some of them are living with their parents and some are living together in order to be able to afford to live," Nelson said.
In an effort to address the need for affordable housing, the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County proposed a plan called "Housing for All" to county commissioners Tuesday.
The plan sets a goal of building 20,000 affordable housing and workforce housing units by 2032.
"We're really trying to address the housing affordability crisis and the plan has a lot of components, but a major component is the $200 million bond that will provide gap funding and will get developers cheaper money and, in return, they will have lower rents," Suzanne Cabrera, CEO of the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County, said.
In Tuesday's meeting, the board unanimously approved the $200 million bond that residents voted on last November, but there are still more hurdles ahead.
The board postponed a decision on whether to adopt the "Housing for All" plan until a later date.
"With three new members on the board of county commissioners that weren't here in the initial phase of the housing plan, we need a little bit more time to get that plan adopted," Commissioner Mack Bernard said.
However, Cabrera said she has faith that the plan will eventually be approved.
"I think they just want to feel comfortable with it in something that they can 100% agree with everything in the plan or will find a variation of it that works," she said. "But we are so close to getting there and we are really working together, so I'm not concerned about this at all."
