Is a $190K home too expensive to be workforce housing in Panama City?
PANAMA CITY  A Panama City-run project to create workforce housing in the Millville community offers homes that are too costly for average people, some area residents say. The price tag on a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the Horizon Park subdivision is $190,900. People connected to the area told city commissioners at a recent meeting that the homes were not affordable and not built with local people  and their incomes  in mind. However, city officials say the development provides an opportunity to deliver options and to attract homeowners over renters. The disagreement comes after members of the Glenwood community in Panama City expressed their frustrations about a housing project in their neighborhood they said was developing "shotgun" houses. Were really setting up those buyers for success, said Assistant City Manager Jared Jones. Youre getting an additional $70,000 in savings for a house that typically if you build, that builder would release the house and what it appraises for, it sells for.  The savings Jones referred to was the $25,000 to $50,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance made available through RehouseBay, which was formed as a response to critical housing needs following Hurricane Michael in 2018. He listed flooring, granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances as an additional $20,000 built-in equity. We were able to keep prices steady throughout construction of this, and weve really insulated our future buyers  against the labor, materials, fuel, everything that has seen drastic increase in prices over the last six months, Jones said. This is a really good deal because if you were to appraise them next month, they would be at an even higher value.  A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the subdivision currently appraises at $210,000. Panama City purchased the 27 lots in the subdivision in 2019 for $238,000 with plans to build affordable housing  a need severely exacerbated after Michael took out a substantial number of homes in October 2018. At the time a failed development, the property was sold to the city with water, sewer and electricity already installed. The city contracted with Winterfell Construction, owned by Bay County Commissioner Tommy Hamm, for the first six homes; and voted in the May 25 meeting to rebid the project. Last month, a private housing project in the Glenwood community drew similar ire from residents there. Cypress Community Development Corp. is building affordable housing on Wilson Avenue that some residents there say are akin to "shotgun" houses  which feature very basic living and lack a focus on open-communal spaces and storage. Such homes were once the standard for impoverished Black neighborhoods in the South. Four houses on Wilson Avenue have been built in that design. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes are less than 1,000 square feet. However, a spokeswoman for Cypress has said homes of the same design were built in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina and are considered a resolution for post-disaster areas in need of workforce housing. She said the homes will be attractively priced."