Neighbors oppose Boynton Beach affordable complex

An affordable housing development in Boynton Beach is drawing the ire of neighbors because it would be sold under a land lease program, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County and Boynton Beach Faith Based Community Development want to build a 21-home development, called Ocean Breeze West, on Seacrest Boulevard between Boynton Beach and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. Under the plan, buyers would own their home, but lease the land underneath it for 99 years. The developers are pushing for this arrangement so that they ultimately maintain control of the complex, filter who buys into it and keep it affordable for several generations.

However, neighbors compared the system to sharecropping, arguing that it prevents true homeownership and perpetually keeps people poor. They want the developers to act more like a homeowners association that manages the community and less like a landowner. Nevertheless, the plan has been approved by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. [Sun Sentinel]