Multi-tenant housing units (MTHU) are a proven housing option that provide clean, safe, and affordable housing to individuals and families with annual earnings under $35,000 per year, without the need for government assistance.

MTHU’s are Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units with 21st Century enhancements of internal and external features of the building. Each room is 100-120 square feet (the area of an apartment bedroom) with a closet. Residents share single occupancy bathrooms and dual-capacity kitchens. The communal design of bathrooms and kitchens allows for efficient operations and provides tenants with a better living experience without the need to significantly increase rental rates.

We have been surprised that the shared bathrooms are the most commonly voiced concerns about this project. The concerns break into three buckets:

Sanitation: We currently clean the bathrooms twice per week, and our tenants do a great job at maintaining the bathrooms during the off-days. This is the benefit of having long-time tenants on the property: they keep things in line. Our proposal will include an on-site employee that will ensure the bathrooms are properly maintained. This person will let us know if more frequent cleaning is required.

Privacy: The bathrooms are single occupancy that lock from the inside; there is one for each four units. They are no different than what is permitted in Community Residences (e.g. sober homes, abused spouse residences, disabled veterans homes) in almost all municipalities. To ensure these bathrooms are always clean and safe we use the latest security technology for locking and securing the rooms

Security: The facility will have Men’s and Women’s sections, and our security system will limit access to only the residents supposed to be there.

Think about all the situations where people use communal bathrooms now: airline bathrooms, firehouse living, youth hostels, college roommates, and the list can go on. Look in Facebook Marketplace and you will find dozens of advertisements for roommates and shared rooms for $900+. The current MTHU arrangement has seven units sharing two bathrooms, and four of the seven residents have lived there for over five years. Obviously, they don’t have a problem with sharing bathrooms. We understand this type of living situation isn’t for everyone. In our land of abundance many of us can’t conceive of a situation where we have to share bathrooms with non-family members.

Just know that there is no world in which an apartment with private bathroom and kitchen for $600 per month exists in South Florida without being heavily subsidized by taxpayers. A unit with bathroom and kitchen is a studio apartment, and the average rents are $1,200-$1,400…way out of reach for someone that only earns $12-15 per hour.

Each two-story building will have ADA-compliant elevators to accommodate elderly and disabled residents. There will be communal space – either inside or outside. - such as courtyards or community rooms. Each tenant’s room will come with a bedframe, wireless internet access, cable box and TV at no extra cost. The exterior will have the same aesthetic as the neighborhood, if not better. People will not be aware that these are SRO’s.

Jetta Investment Company is currently proposing our MTHU properties to be located in property we currently own in the West Settler’s district of Delray Beach and 6th Avenue South in Lake Worth Beach. More broadly, MTHU’s are best built in areas with the following features: walking distance to public transportation, grocery stores and laundromat as well as hook up with city sewage.

There would be significant restrictions on MTHU density: no more than 24 units per building, and usually only 16. Also, buildings should be at least 1,000 feet apart from one another. We would also advocate a cap on the number of total units that can be built in the city. One example could be no more than 10% of the number of Non-Family persons making under $35,000, as estimated by the U.S. Census. In Delray Beach, this number is 6,700, so the cap would be 670 Units.

These parameters are flexible based on the community needs, but the major idea is that excessively high density of these units will be counterproductive and will sink this innovative housing concept in the long-term. MTHU’s need to be sprinkled throughout the community, not dumped in just one area of a city.

There is a lot of baggage associated with low-income and SRO housing, and people are justifiably concerned that this type of housing will undermine the stability of their neighborhoods. This is why we have developed a far-reaching program to ensure no deterioration in neighborhoods. The approach is based on a track record of success we have had in Delray Beach combined with great feedback from members of the community. We should also keep in mind that there are successful low-income housing programs in our communities (e.g. Lord’s Place in LWB, MTHU’s in Delray); not everyone ends in failure.

MTHU’s currently exist in Delray Beach at 105 NW 5th Avenue. They have had this form of housing since 1960 when the building was first built. Its zoning status is legal/non-conforming since this form of housing is no longer permissible in the city, or in most cities. That is what we are looking to change.

The success can be tracked back to 2018, when Delray Housing Group (DHG) took over the management of the properties. DHG is the property management arm of the Delray Housing Authority (DHA), and DHA is in the business of vetting and placing low-income and marginalized people. Since DHG took over management there has been ZERO criminal activity or neighborhood complaints. DHG uses the standard established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), so these standards can be scaled to other property management companies that are properly licensed.

We agree that this building is – how shall we say – “aesthetically challenged,” but our hands are tied on making changes. Our zoning status is legal/non-conforming, which means that any major changes made to the property requires us to conform the entire building to the current zoning, which would only allow for 2 rental units vs. the 10 we have currently.

Despite the aesthetics, people have lived here for over 60 years, and it has been successful. Expansion of more MTHU’s on this property would enable us to create something like you see on the right, and building that conforms to the design requirements of the historical district where it resides.

As an aside, a huge number – likely a majority – of old, eyesore buildings that are grandfathered in, face the same dilemma: once an owner tries to invest in major changes, they have to make the entire building conforming, and that often means lost revenue or losing the use of the property entirely.

When you first accept that not every – or even most - low-income applicant has a criminal history or drug problems, it’s not so hard to imagine a standard vetting process working to place good tenants. The HUD vetting process includes a criminal background check and a check for history of evictions. Applicants with a felony or drug conviction within the past five years are disqualified. Tenants are interviewed by DHG staff to ensure they understand the rules of occupancy. DHG also uses a zero-tolerance policy for violations of nuisance and illegal drug-use.

Because tenants have limited income we make our leases month-to-month so not to encumber them with an annual lease if they experience financial hardship. A typical tenant stays 2-3 years. Of the seven MTHU tenants in Delray, three have been there for five years; two are brand new, and the other two have been there for about one year. The monthly rents are $500-600 per month. This is affordable to someone making as little as $12,000 per year.

In the two years since JIC has owned the Delray property, it has been a mix of transitioned homeless, seniors on a fixed income, working poor and people on disability. We also coordinate with local veterans advocates to give priority to low income veterans. Of the seven tenants now, five were homeless just before they moved in. Four of them work local jobs; the other three are retired or on disability.

Here are all the elements that we are proposing to ensure the success and stability of these housing units:

• Density restrictions (noted above)

• Standard applicant vetting process (noted above)

• State-of-the-art security cameras and room access.

• Annual licensing by the city with two property inspections per year. These will be paid for by annual impact fees paid by the owner.

• Licensing of the property managers of these properties.

• Requirement to have one management representative living onsite.

• Appointment of a neighborhood oversight council to meet monthly.

• No children. Non-family households only. 1.25 people per room.

A building with 24 units can fit on 0.2 acres.

Keep in mind that the tenants are very low income. Most will be making $20K per year or less. Very few of them can afford cars. Even with 0.2 acres, though, there will still be enough space for eight (8) cars. In the Delray building, there are two cars for the seven MTHU tenants. We can also screen out car owners, if needed.

The beauty of this model is that it helps people greatly in need, and it is profitable! The low square feet per room, and the minimal fixtures and furniture within each room means money can be reinvested in quality-of-life features that will ensure the long-term success of this idea. In fact, there is enough profit in the model that it will not require any government subsidies or tax breaks.

I’m not going to apologize for making money with an innovative idea that helps people…without being a taxpayer burden. As far as making a quick hit, Jetta Investment Company is in this for the long-term. This is a big idea that has application to just about every community in the country. We need to make this work to prove to other communities that it can work. If this project fails, the broader vision and the broader value to those in need fails, and I won’t let that happen.

You may be interested to know J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before it was finally published, so good ideas aren’t always accepted on first draft.

Just like her, we are not quitting based on one rejection.

That said, this is a fair question. The answer gets complicated, and there were a few commissioners that seemed supportive of the idea when we spoke to them one-on-one. This positive feedback we received from them, combined with the letters of support from the neighborhood and community leaders is why we felt comfortable submitting the proposal to a workshop.

At the meeting, however, city staff provided some misguided information about the project, and we were not given the chance to respond. Once that happened, several city commissioners continued spouting misinformation, and that killed support across the entire board. We intend to present this idea again, and this time we will be better prepared to address concerns. This idea deserved to be vetted by city staff and formally submitted to the public for feedback. Right now, all we have in LWB are people in the community sounding off without proper information.

All these ideas have merit, but the problem with them is they are targeted towards middle-income people. MTHU’s are the only affordable housing solution that is geared towards people making 20-50% of the AMI. These people account for 1-in-5 residents in our community, and no one is talking about helping them. Many of them are homeless or living in their cars or living four to a room in a slum house. Also, almost all the other options require government subsidies; MTHU’s do not.

There is no evidence that this would happen. According to Zillow, home values in the Pineapple Beach neighborhood of Lake Worth Beach have skyrocketed in the last two years. This occurs while there are numerous complaints about unregulated flop houses in this neighborhood, with 10-15 unrelated people living in a 2-bedroom house. MCHU’s will be clean, safe, affordable, and regulated. It is hard to see how this form of housing hurts property values while the flop houses don’t.

If “These people” are low income or homeless people, they are already here, in very high numbers. In Delray Beach, there are almost 4,000 people in Non-Family Households making less than $25K per year (13% of all HH’s). They are living in their cars or crammed into substandard, unregulated rooming houses or just on the streets. We can all see significant numbers of homeless people when we go to the beach or go downtown.

In Lake Worth Beach there are 2,000 people fitting this profile, and a very high percentage of them are veterans and homeless. These were the people camped out at John Prince Park last year. Our city is much better served if “these people” have a roof over their head in a clean, safe and affordable environment. MTHU’s have a proven track record of providing this service.