Plenty Of Sun, But Not Affordable Housing, In Key West

The average home price has nearly tripled in the past five years, leaving little room for low-income workers serving the wealthy.

1 minute read

April 30, 2006, 5:00 AM PDT

By David Gest

"The sun isn't even a hint in the sky when the bus leaves south Miami-Dade County and rumbles 80 miles down the Overseas Highway jammed with one of the scarcest resources in the Florida Keys: workers.

Maids, nursing aides, landscapers, cooks and security guards fill every seat, and the aisle, too, with some riding more than two hours to jobs that pay more than similar ones on the mainland."

"They can't afford to stay in Monroe County, and their would-be replacements can't afford to move there. Not when the average sale price of a single-family home in the Keys was $960,096 last year -- up from $368,048 in 2001, according to Coldwell Banker Schmitt Real Estate."

FULL STORY: Key West workers struggle to find affordable housing

Sunday, April 30, 2006 in Orlando Sentinel via Chicago Tribune

Housing Florida

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