Affordable Housing and Competition for Land: Searching for Sites at the Beach

In the United States, affordable housing start-ups are lagging demand (Thornton, 2005; Heavens, 2006). In Florida, and particularly in beaches communities throughout the state, the provision of affordable housing is becoming more problematic as market pressures on available land makes acquisition of property largely beyond the reach of lower-income families (Journal of Property Management, 2005). This paper explores the efforts made by a community improvement organization in north Florida to locate suitable land-parcels in areas close (but not adjacent) to the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of increasing the stock of affordable housing. Parcel analysis using a geographic information system identified several potential sites for consideration.