The city of Westlake in Palm Beach County, one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, is trying to entice residents through its $4 million affordable housing program — part of an effort to address Florida's long-running housing crisis.
But not just anyone can apply.
The county’s newest city, the 39th municipality that was incorporated in 2016, is targeting potential residents who are considered “Essential Service Personnel” — educators, military veterans, health care workers, police and firefighters.
Through Westlake's updated Housing Assistance Purchase Program Yearly (HAPPY), the city is attracting the “backbone of America,” said John Carter, senior vice president of Minto Communities, the main development company that has built housing in the city since its inception.
Minto, which is capped at developing up to 6,500 homes in the city, is in the first phase of new townhome projects, including The Terraces.
For The Terraces, which start in the mid $300,000 range, eligible first-time homebuyers or people who haven’t owned a residence in the last three years, can qualify for up to $35,000 toward the purchase of an affordable housing unit.
The downpayment assistance program is based on federal Area Median Income (AMI) guidelines.
In partnership with Minto, Westlake officials said the housing program is gaining momentum.
The revamped program has awarded nearly $800,000. To date, since late 2016, a total of 40 homebuyers have used the HAPPY program with 7-10 potential buyers expected to close in the next 6 months, Cassel said. And there are more than 40 pending applications.
Westlake’s city manager, Kenneth Cassel told WLRN new stipulations in the program are making it more accessible to more people. Previously, there were “income constraints and housing cost constraints” that “made it so that people could qualify, but they couldn't really buy the house.”
“With the income levels that have been adjusted, the housing prices that have been adjusted and the new advent of The Terraces, we should be able to assist more individuals getting into a home,” he said.
He said the down payment is usually the biggest hurdle for first-time homebuyers.
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According to county estimates, the median sales price for a single-family home in Palm Beach County is $650,000 — a 10% jump from the same time last year.
Westlake, located 30 minutes west of West Palm Beach and just past Loxahatchee, is home to more than 7,000 people, seven times the population figure in 2020, when it was just under 1,000 residents.
The 3,800-acre city is ranked 24th in the Top 50 Master-Planned Communities in the U.S, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting and RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, two real estate research firms.
The city has more than 2 million square feet of commercial development space. The first commercial plaza, Westlake Landings, welcomed its first Publix in June — the 50,00 square-feet supermarket chain on southwest corner of between Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Persimmon Boulevard, surrounded by other retailers and restaurants, such as Verizon Mobile, Habit Burger, KFC, and a Starbucks that opened two months ago.
Carter said the developer is working on bringing other major retailers and businesses to boost its economy and attract more residents.
He also sees “strong interest” in the homes and an increase of families buying in Westlake since as the cost of borrowing has cooled down a bit.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is around 6.38%, down from 6.46% last week, according to Freddie Mac –– and a reduction from more than 7% compared to this time last year.
“And so we've got momentum,” Carter said. “Our secret sauce centered on affordability.”
Reduce the cost of development and maintain program
Cassel said Westlake made their development code flexible to allow homebuilders to react quickly to market trends. There is no bond debt for infrastructure, unlike the county’s $200 million bond meant to entice developers to build homes — the 20-year measure the county passed in 2022.
“All the infrastructure is built, constructed by Minto, the main developer, and then it's turned over to the Seminole Improvement District, for operation and maintenance,” Cassel said.
And for every building permit, the developer pays a $1,500 fee that would fund the down payment assistance program.
“A lot of our competitors in the industry layer long term debt, layer builder fees, other costs padding the transaction,” Carter claims. "We don't do that.”
While there is a master homeowners association (HOA) over the entire residential community and individual HOAs over the various sub-communities, there are no Community Development District fees or CDD in the new development, which is typically another long-term, ongoing cost homeowners pay to finance some of the development, improvements and other amenities, such as playground or pool.
Homebuyers save between $500 to $1,500 in these fees that would have been incorporated in their mortgage.
And to help maintain the housing down payment assistance program, a portion of the proceeds from all sales of homes in Westlake are going toward a privately-funded Housing Trust Fund, which can also be used to help finance other developments, like the relocation of a university or student housing.
