Update:  County staff referred my questions to Manuel Castillo, the Executive Director of the Key West Housing Authority.  Apparently, the Key West Housing Authority (KWHA) manages public housing units owned by the county?  It’s reminiscent of the county’s “partnership” with the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA).  Remember that Frank Toppino, Richard Toppino’s daddy, serves on the KWHA board.  Anyhow here is Castillo’s response. 

There truly is an affordable housing crisis in the Keys, and Irma has made it even worse.  Monroe County has permitted many, many affordable housing projects in the Keys, but what happened to them all?  Where are they?  Are they still around?  Are they actually affordable?

And how many commercial permits, especially for hotels, have been permitted?  There was a moratorium on new hotel rooms at one time.  It seems to have fallen by the wayside in the midst of the “crisis”.

I thought it might be interesting to chase down the fates of some “affordable” housing units and map them out.

Let’s start with one.  It’s interesting.

All I did was search Monroe County Housing Authority on the Property Appraiser’s web site.  I picked this record at random.  Look what it says in the “Affordable Housing” field.

No.

Hmmmm….????  A multi-family residential unit owned by the Monroe County Housing Authority that is not affordable?  I clicked on record after record.  Same thing.  Is it just a glitch?

How strange.  I emailed the county to see what their explanation might be.  I’ll let you know what I find out.

Keep in mind that sloppy record keeping is the best friend of the incompetent and the unscrupulous.  If you want to evade accountability than you certainly don’t want to leave a paper trail.

There is a lot more to look into.  Research is ongoing.