Key West voters in March rejected purchasing the Peary Court housing complex for $55 million.
The 157 two-bedroom townhomes were originally built as Navy housing, then sold in 2013.
Most of the people who live there live year-round in Key West and hold fulltime jobs — exactly the kind of person who has the hardest time finding a place to live on the island. Homes are snapped up by snowbirds and often rented in the offseason to tourists.
Now there's a new option for keeping Peary Court affordable. According to a resolution on the City Commission agenda, a new purchaser, the city, has entered into a contract for the property — and for $12.5 million will deed-restrict all units on the land as affordable, in perpetuity.
"This may be our last chance to really preserve the housing," said City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley. He supported the public purchase of the property and he's sponsoring the resolution to make the $12.5 million payment.
That payment would not require a public vote. The city has money for affordable housing set aside with the Monroe County Land Authority. It comes from sales tax collected on tourist lodging, like hotels and vacation rentals.
Weekley said the city needs to take every measure it can to provide affordable housing.
"We are in a housing crisis," he said.
The city has also recently dedicated a full-time code compliance officer to cracking down on illegal vacation rentals. Rentals of less than a month require a special license and the number of those licenses is strictly limited.
The resolution supporting the payment is scheduled for consideration by the City Commission on Tuesday (May 3). Payments from the Land Authority require final approval from the Monroe County Commission, which oversees the agency.
