HURRICANE IRMA changed many things in Florida and perhaps none so much as the concept of affordable — and available — housing in the Keys.
Architect Kobi Karp has a vision for affordable housing in the Florida Keys: residences set at coconut-tree height to keep them dry, atop concrete columns holding them in place.
Key West clients sought out his designs before Hurricane Irma hit the island chain this month, and he thinks the two projects will continue despite Irma’s damage and debris. “It’s a more cost-efficient way of life,” the Miami-based architect said.
Such modern, planned development hasn’t always appealed to the independent spirits living in the Keys — but Irma may force the laid-back landscape to change. Mobile homes and recreational vehicles didn’t survive the storm’s 130 mph winds and storm surge. The losses hit people crucial to Keys tourism: service industry and blue collar workers priced out of expensive Key West homes or newer structures meeting Florida’s stringent building codes.
Local officials are racing to find those workers housing to keep them in the Keys but still free up hotel rooms by Oct. 20, the opening day of the decadent Fantasy Fest and one of the biggest events on the Key West tourism calendar.
The housing crunch affects all of the community: About 50 city employees may need to relocate, Key West city spokeswoman Alyson Crean said. Keys firefighters who lost everything have moved into fire stations or the homes of friends and relatives. On Duval Street, bar and tour company owners said some shell-shocked employees just quit because of the damage.
“When housing is eliminated, as it was in this storm, there’s literally no place for these people to move to. There’s no suburbs, there’s no driving for an hour and a half to find someplace to live. That’s just not possible here,” said Ed Swift, president of Key West-based Historic Tours of America, where at least a handful of employees have decided not to rebuild their lives here.
The Keys don’t function like other places: There’s only one narrow road in and out, and the isolation fosters a small-town, mom-and-pop atmosphere that has persevered amid booming numbers of tourists seeking Mardi Gras-style revelry and luxury accommodations.
As Key West rents rose over the last 20 years to $2,000 a month or more for two-bedroom units, Swift and other business owners began building housing, including dormitorystyle accommodations, to keep local workers. Low-cost trailers and RVs helped fill housing gaps, but there’s already talk of replacing them altogether.
Irma destroyed or severely damaged up to 15,000 residential units, including vacation homes — amounting to more than a quarter of the 55,000 homes in the Keys, according to Monroe County estimates. That also includes nearly all of the 7,500 mobile homes outside Key West, said Christine Hurley, assistant county administrator. The county has asked the Fed-