by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
Sanibel City Council, at its March 31 meeting, approved Community Housing & Resources’ application for a 39-unit building at 1523 Periwinkle Way. There was time pressure on the application, as a nearly $10 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development was about to expire.
During the discussion, Council members expressed concern about a HUD requirement that CHR consider applicants from Lee County, even those not working on Sanibel.
Erika Steiner, President of CHR’s board, said earlier, “We go through our application process, and there is some requirement that people work locally, live locally, and we open it up to Captiva businesses too, as long as they are headquartered in Sanibel, such as Tween Waters. We don’t expect we’re going to get Lee County workers from North Fort Myers who want to live on Sanibel.”
Council member Laura DeBruce, however, was adamant that the Council ensure the scenario can’t happen. “If HUD’s terms of the grant will allow people to live on Sanibel but work across the bridge, that goes against Sanibel’s charter,” she said. “It’s imperative that anyone given the opportunity to live in affordable housing must work on Sanibel.”
In DeBruce’s motion to approve CHR’s application, she attached three strict new conditions. That motion to approve with conditions carried by a 4-1 vote.
CHR will ensure that each resident of the development will be:
(i) an employee or owner on Sanibel of a business or other organization with a principal place of business on Sanibel;
(ii) an employee or owner on Captiva of a business or other organization with a principal place of business on Sanibel;
(iii) an individual who has previously worked on Sanibel for 20 years and who is retired or disabled.
This means in part that anyone working on Captiva must be connected to an organization on Sanibel.
CHR Executive Director Nicole Decker-McHale said CHR has been contacted by almost 30 Sanibel businesses about the difficulty of attracting and retaining staff due to the long commutes involved. Having more Sanibel residents to fill those jobs would be a big benefit to local businesses.
“Our housing program, which was the first in the state of Florida, [meets] needs in our community for affordable housing to be able to support the businesses – the businesses that we need to come back that generate revenue for the city,” Decker-McHale stressed.
“CHR is part of the economic resiliency in this community,” she said.
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