Fort Myers passes budget, considers expanding housing program

A program that church leaders in Southwest Florida say will not do enough to help poverty-stricken families in Fort Myers could get a slight makeover. 

Fort Myers City Manager Saeed Kazemi said he spoke to members of Lee Interfaith for Empowerment during a Zoom call to listen to their issues with a $1.5 million trust fund the city hopes to establish in the next fiscal year that could provide housing vouchers for people making between 100% to 120% of the area median income in Fort Myers.

Kazemi wants to help cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers live in the city instead of having to commute from Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral, where rents are more affordable. Of about 1,000 city employees, about 120 of them live within city limits. 

Instead members of LIFE want the program to address the needs of people making less than 80% of the area media income, which for one person would be $37,000. 

The program would be started with seed money from the city of Fort Myers and was approved along with the city's budget for fiscal 2020-2021.

But Kazemi said he would study the effects on the city if the program addresses the needs of those making between 80% and 120% of area median income. 

With adoption of the budget Wednesday the city lowered its property tax rate to $7.96 on every $1,000 of total taxable property value, down from the current rate of $8.25. The budget is aimed at "providing services at current levels while lowering all rates," Kazemi said. 

Kazemi asked city departments to submit expenditure reductions in the event that the pandemic worsens and hinders the city's finances. 

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The housing fund program is a slim cut of the city's $424.2 million budget for city operations. The city consulted with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation for the program's parameters.

But members of LIFE, a coalition of religious leaders in Southwest Florida, believe it will not do enough for people struggling to pay their bills and rental costs. 

"We are not asking the city to increase funding but rather to prioritize those making under 80% ($37,000 for one person) and not as Mr. Kazemi proposes for those between 100%-120% ($47,000-$56,000)," LIFE wrote in a letter to Kazemi and city council. "There is nearly a $20,000 a year income gap in the two populations and it is paramount the city uses our tax dollars for the 40% of our city's population who fall below 80% AMI (area median income)."

Kazemi told city council Wednesday that he had a very candid conversation with LIFE. Kazemi said he focused in on the segment of the population, those making between $47,000 to $56,000, because there are no supplemental programs that help them. 

"That is the workforce group that has been forgotten," Kazemi said. "Below that, there are a lot of fundings available from federal and state."

"Since we haven't made the final decision, I am willing to go back and look at the study to see what does the study do if I look from 80 (percent) to 120 (percent)," Kazemi told the city council before it adopted the budget. "I am willing to do that. Today, you are just approving the dollars in the budget. I am going to bring the resolution to study that fund."

Fort Myers Councilman Johnny Streets said the waiting list for affordable housing through the Fort Myers Housing Authority is 5,000 people. 

"People are working but they are not making enough money to afford to live," Streets said. "They are working as hard as they can and their living conditions are not the best ... We need to have done a little bit more to accommodate that other worker that may not be working for $40 to $50 or $60,000 a year."

Mayor Randy Henderson and Councilwoman Gaile Anthony said the county's other six cities and the county should also be pressured into doing something about affordable housing. Fort Myers rents are more expensive than Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral, where most of the city's employees live. 

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"This is a major Metropolitan Statistical Area with six cities and a county, and the city of Fort Myers will do its fair share," Henderson said.

Anthony agreed. 

"The mayor said it. There are six cities in the county," Anthony said. "The county is the bearer for the social services in the county. I think we have to keep supporting that, but I don’t think we can be the answer for everything."

Lorna Washington, on the affordable housing committee for LIFE, said she was on the call with Kazemi and said the group was not budging on what they say the residents of Fort Myers need. 

"He had kind of left it open that it would not be set in stone," Washington said. "We thought it was really unfair for people at 120% AMI to get assistance and the people living in poverty get nothing."

Washington said LIFE won't let up on the issue. 

"We keep pressing it," Washington said.

The Rev. Rickey Anderson, part of LIFE and a leader at Followers of Christ fellowship ministries, said the change makes him feel hopeful because during the meeting with LIFE, Kazemi "wasn't budging."

"I told him I do believe in prayer and we showed up today and prayed," Anderson said. 

Anderson was one of dozens who showed up for a prayer vigil outside of City Hall as city leaders discussed the budget Wednesday. 

Anderson said he and LIFE will continue to advocate. 

"We do not go away," he said. "We show that we are serious about what we are doing. That's why we keep coming back."