Indian River County Moves to Create Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Indian River County's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend a new ordinance creating an attainable housing trust fund — a mechanism designed to turn surplus public land and voluntary developer dollars into homes that working families can actually afford.

The trust fund would focus on land acquisition and banking, pairing the county with both for-profit and nonprofit housing developers through a locally controlled program. Properties placed in the fund must remain affordable for 50 years under recorded covenants — a requirement intended to prevent the long-term erosion of affordable stock that has gutted other markets statewide, officials said.

Revenue would flow from multiple sources: voluntary developer contributions tied to county incentives, proceeds from county property sales, grants, donations and interest earnings, according to public documents. Administrative costs are capped at 10% of fund expenditures. The Board of County Commissioners would hold final authority over the fund, with Community Services handling day-to-day administration and the advisory committee providing ongoing oversight.

Before any parcel reaches a developer, Planning and Development Services would screen it for location, zoning and infrastructure viability, officials said. Qualified development partners would be selected through a formal Request for Qualifications process and ranked by scoring — with properties offered down the list in order. Committee members pressed the fund's administrator on specifics Tuesday, raising questions about how developer contribution formulas would be structured, what legally defines a "surplus" county property and whether time limits would be set for project completion.

The ordinance draws its legal footing from Florida's Home Rule provisions and Chapter 125 of state statutes, which explicitly encourage counties to direct surplus land toward affordable housing.

The scale of the need in Indian River County came into sharp relief at Tuesday's meeting. Habitat for Humanity reported that its development pipeline extends through 2032 with 170 homes planned — yet that figure represents roughly 10% of the county's identified affordable housing need, according to public records. The organization's Gifford Gardens development is already rising, with 14 households forming what organizers described as a supportive community as construction proceeds.

The ordinance now advances to the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners for final approval. No commission hearing date has been publicly confirmed.

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