In January, the Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee unanimously re-elected Joseph Trachtenberg as its chairman. This week, the Collier County Board of County Commissioners unanimously removed him.
Trachtenberg said what he termed as his "firing" from the voluntary advisory group is a case of him speaking out about the state of affordable housing in the county and a lack of progress over the past year.
"On Monday, the day before the February 28 Commissioners meeting, I sent (a letter) to each commissioner, requesting a place on their March 15 agenda," Trachtenberg said. "My letter obviously struck a nerve. The solution our commissioners found, in response to my pleas to finally give this important issue a hearing, was to get rid of me. Even unpaid volunteers should be allowed to express their opinions, without consequences."
Trachtenberg said new Commissioner Chris Hall, the board's representative to the AHAC, phoned him Tuesday evening to tell him he had been removed from the AHAC by unanimous vote of the commissioners, but told him it wasn’t personal.
"They decided a change was needed," Trachtenberg said Hall told him.
Surprisingly, a comment by Hall in the media seems to support the idea that Trachtenberg's public comments were the issue.
Responding to a request for comment from WGCU on the removal of Trachtenberg, Hall said: "Over the past 13 months, the previous chair of Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) has published, interviewed, hosted, or written numerous fearmongering communications to the public regarding our workforce housing 'crisis.' He has continually spoken out against the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) for not wanting to address this issue and stated how all other counties in Florida have solved or are solving this housing crisis and how Collier County clearly lags behind. He has drilled down and focused entirely on the problem while doing next to nothing to solve it. The facts are that, since 2019, Collier County has added 2,443 new affordable units by our partnerships with the private sector, at no cost to the public. In addition, $900,000 in monetary contributions have been given."
Furthermore, Hall said, Trachtenberg's comment that he had been “fired” for an email he sent the Commissioners and County Manager Monday, February 27 "is simply not true." Hall said his decision to replace him was made after a letter to the editor he wrote on February 15.
"With the same pessimistic rhetoric—even after being cautioned several times earlier to present solutions instead," Hall said. "The people of Collier County deserve better leadership! I just had to wait for the February 28 BCC meeting to ask for action."
Hall said the mission of the AHAC is to review and make recommendations to the Collier County Board of County Commissioners regarding the local housing affordability options and incentives, evaluate established policies, procedures, ordinances, land development regulations and the local government comprehensive plan.
"We need someone leading the AHAC who is solution-oriented, a team player, and a leader to bring ideas to the BCC. In 13 months under his lack of leadership, the AHAC has brought 2 items to the board." Those items, he said, included a landlord/tenant ordinance that didn't address affordable homes.
"It was on the agenda 4 times in 2022. The first two times the agenda item failed, then the third time it passed in September 2022 with a lame duck board, and the fourth time in December 2022, when I made the motion to overturn it," he said.
The other item was four zoning initiatives brought forth in mid-2022.
"This item was moved forward to summer, then the primary election results came in and the BCC moved it forward again. Then, Hurricane Ian hit and shortly thereafter the November election established a new BCC," Hall said. "I first learned about these initiatives in January 2023 and wanted them on the February 14th agenda. Too many items were already in front of this one and I was hoping it could make the Feb 28th agenda. Due to public advertising requirements, I now have this as a March 28th time certain item to discuss with the other board members."
Hall said Trachtenberg was removed to make room for a solution-oriented leader purposed to advise the BCC with ways to create workforce housing in collaboration with the private sector and non-profit organizations.
"He was never hired, so he was never fired," Hall said. "The BCC voted 5-0 to replace him with someone better suited to positively and proactively lead AHAC and work alongside the BCC to solving Collier County’s need for workforce housing."
Trachtenberg took issue with Hall's comments.
"I want to respond with two comments, dealing with the assertion I am fear-mongering and have recommended only the items Mr. Hall reports," he said. "It’s true I have spoken to many groups and written several articles representing AHAC since I became chairman. My goal has been to gain support for workforce housing in Collier County. This is in response to a comment I have heard countless times from the commissioners — 'we only hear from people opposed to these projects. Never from folks who want them'. I took it upon myself to change this view; to make our residents understand the extent to which we need our essential workers, and the cost to us of losing them."
HE said that over the past thirteen months he has publicly asked the BCC to consider AHAC’s recommendations on the following subjects:
- zoning regulations
- impact fees (waiving and deferring)
- linkage fees
- additional height and density
- allocating ad valorum tax funds to affordable housing
- establishing rules for the $20 million sales tax surtax fund
- ADUs (accessory dwelling units)
"There are minutes to support every appearance I made before the BCC, pleading with them for agenda time to actually get these items discussed and passed," he said. "Finally, Hall is correct, that last March I proposed a requirement that had initially been adopted in Miami-Dade County, requiring a landlord to give 60 days notice if he intended to increase rent by more than 5%. I made clear this had nothing to do with affordable housing. It was an act of human decency. The bill passed in a Collier County by a 3-2 vote. Also passed in the City of Naples."
Trachtenberg acknowledged that Hall, in his first act on the day he was sworn in, moved and was successful in reversing this ordinance.
"All I can say is shame on him," Trachtenberg said. "I understand rent controls are illegal in Florida. Giving a family two months' notice, when they won’t be able to afford a significant rent increase, to find a new school for their kids or maybe a new job, is not too much to ask."
The letter Trachtenberg sent to the commissioners questioned the continued delay in placing topics related to affordable housing before the commissioners.
"I became chairman of AHAC in January 2022. I appeared at your February 8, 2022 BCC meeting to discuss the terrible state of affairs in our county for workforce housing. I requested a place on a soon upcoming agenda to consider zoning changes, impact fee allocation and deferral, and a plan for the $20 million surtax fund. I received what I thought were nods of agreement. Obviously, I misinterpreted your responses," Trachtenberg wrote.
He continued: "In May 2022, the Planning Commission unanimously approved four zoning changes, recommending the BCC follow their lead. On three different subsequent occasions in 2022, the BCC had the four zoning changes on your agendas —each time they were dropped and/or postponed at the discretion of commissioners. (Once because summer was approaching, next to schedule a workshop that never happened, finally because elections were near).
"OVER A YEAR HAS PASSED SINCE MY APPEARANCE AND THESE ITEMS ARE STILL NOT ON YOUR AGENDA (capitals by Trachtenberg). During this time a wide range of far less significant issues have been addressed by our county leadership. You have consistently refused to discuss or consider any changes to county policies or practices dealing with affordable housing. At what point does your refusal to discuss these issues become the headline? Commissioner Hall advised AHAC that he would try to get us on the February 14 agenda. That became the February 28 agenda, which then became March 14. Now this might be March 28. Why does this feel to me like every month in 2022, as I watched the days and weeks pass by?"
"That's their point of view," fellow AHAC member John Harney said about Hall's assertion that Trachtenberg couldn’t get on the agenda for over a year because the previous board, which he was not a part of, pushed off Trachtenberg’s ideas, then summer started, and and then Hurricane Ian hit the area, and then the election happened. "Our point of view is they gave us a partial approval last year in February, they said that we would get together to have time on the agenda to make the final approval. And that has never happened in a year. And you know, that was all that started a long time before there was a hurricane."
Trachtenberg, on the AHAC since early in 2021, said the committee was more engaged now than ever before, and working directly with county staff, developing recommendations for the commissioners.
"The fact we cannot get on their agenda to offer these recommendations is truly painful," he said. "So when they say I should be replaced because we’re not accomplishing anything, how would they even know?"
Harney added: "I'm saying we have four major amendments to the land development code that would change the environment for building affordable homes here. These are all changes that were the increased density for a builder who wanted to create affordable homes. We can't get them before the commission, they will not give us a date when they'll talk about they have provided first, that was, well, people are out of town and in the summer. So we want to do this when people are in town because we want residents input and then we get to the fall. And then they said, Well, you know, we're going to have an election and we'd rather the new commissioners be involved in this. And then the hurricane comes and here we are in February."
At the Tuesday night commissioners meeting, Hall moved to remove the AHAC chairman and said it was "inaction" by the current chairman that concerned him, though he did not mention Trachtenberg by name. Hall, elected as a Collier County Commissioner on November 8, 2022, had his first meeting with the AHAC on Dec. 20.
Hall said at the commissioners meeting that the mission of the advisory committee is to review and recommend policies, procedures, ordinances, look at incentives, look at the comp plan and bring back to us ideas that we can either implement or not implement.
"So I haven't seen that committee acting in that capacity," Hall said. "And so I know that the more that you focus on the problem, the bigger the problem gets, the more you focus on the solutions of things, the bigger the solution gets. I also know that the speed of the group is determined by the speed of the leader."
Hall prefaced his motion to replace the chairman with a comment that someone was needed who was results-oriented.
"I'm going to make a motion to remove the current chair from the committee. And and let us find someone that's just got, I think we have some people on that committee that can fill that seat pretty good," Hall said. "I've talked to the county attorney, executive Executive Order, our executive summary is not required here. It's just between us. We have the power to do it or not to do it."
The motion was then seconded and the commissioners voted unanimously to replace Trachtenberg.
Trachtenberg may not be the only AHAC casualty.
Harney, formerly with Habitat for Humanity and now retired and a full-time advocate for that organization, said his continued membership on AHAC, and that of other members, might be in doubt.
"Unless we see progress and see that the commissioners are truly interested in getting something done and take action to do it? I think there will be a lot of people who will find that," he said. "It's just too frustrating."
That frustration is born from seemingly running in place, he said.
"We ask, we ask, we ask and you know, eventually, after Joe has asked and asked and asked them is, is gone to the public to say, 'look, we need to get this done that commissioners haven't moved, can you move them' and asked the community to do that,"" Harney said. "I have asked the community to do that. And yet, there really hasn't been any, any change. And we know it's one thing for the commissioners to say we're making progress and another to show progress. We cannot show progress."
Trachtenberg said that from the time he became chairman of the AHAC fourteen months ago, he had worked tirelessly to explain the consequences of not addressing Collier County’s workforce housing crisis.
"Under my leadership, for the first time ever the county staff and AHAC are working together, developing real recommendations to solve problems. I cannot be prouder of the progress we’ve made, or the talented people on our staff," he said. "I’ve always spoken respectfully about our commissioners, explaining they have difficult job with pressure from many sides. My message has consistently been, if you want workforce housing fixed our elected leaders must hear your voices. Citizens responded. Since the commissioners have done nothing to advance workforce housing, they find all these new voices troubling."
Trachtenberg also laid out what he said were the "facts, for those of you who care about our essential workers and are concerned about our quality of lives without them":
- Last year a City of Naples consultant said we are short 10,000 dwelling units in Collier County. This number is growing by 500-1,000 per year.
- The price of a decent single-family home in Collier County has risen to $500,000. This is out of reach for almost everyone in our workforce.
- Over 48,000 workers in our county can no longer afford to live here. You can see them in their cars driving up to 3 hours daily, to and from Lee, Hendry, Miami-Dade counties and even further. As jobs near to home present themselves, we will lose them.
Harney said it's much easier to build luxury homes in Collier County than homes targeted to those who fill worker-type roles.
"Because if I'm a developer, and I want to build here, I can probably build luxury homes, either single family homes or multi family developments. And I can sell them all day. I get that, you know that the county encourages that, they get that, they want that," Harney said. "On the other hand, (if) I'm trying to build affordable units, particularly a building that is all affordable units, I'm going to need some financial incentives of some sort."
Harney said Collier County is not in a position where they want to give out a financial, direct financial incentive to a builder.
"They're not going to hand them money and say 'here, go build some affordable housing'," Harney said. "What they want to do is get a builder to either suck it up on their own, which is essentially what they're doing when they make a deal, because the builder is giving up profitability on a development that is primarily market rate by having some affordable units in that development. without getting any other significant breaks from the county."
Harney said the plight of working people in Collier County is well known.
They drive here in the masses, or they find a job somewhere else, so they don't have to drive here like that. And, you know, I've talked to many business owners in Collier County who have told me I can't find staff, people will not drive here, have the cost of driving, the time of driving, when they can find a job somewhere in Lake County, Hendry County, Charlotte County, you name it.John Harney, member, Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee
"They drive here in the masses, or they find a job somewhere else, so they don't have to drive here like that. And, you know, I've talked to many business owners in Collier County who have told me I can't find staff, people will not drive here, have the cost of driving, the time of driving, when they can find a job somewhere in Lake County, Hendry County, Charlotte County, you name it," he said. "So, you know, we've we've got, it's like a two-stage problem. We can't get people to live here because they can't afford here. And now, we can't get people to drive here. Because they can't afford the drive time and the personal time to do that. They can find something to do in Lee County, or some other county without having to make that drive here and the expense that goes with it."
Trachtenberg said his removal is kind of ironic given that he was just announced at the recipient of the Greater Naples Leadership (GNL) group's 2023 Distinguished Leadership Award to be presented to him March 15 at the Naples Hilton.
In a letter about the honor, Trachtenberg was described thusly:
"Currently serving his second term as Chair of the Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, (CCAHAC), Mr. Trachtenberg completed 11 years on the board (six as Chair) of St. Matthew’s House and served on the Homeowners Association (HOA) Board of Aqualane Shores for six years.
"During his tenure at St. Matthew’s House (SMH), the organization expanded its services from two homeless shelters in Naples and Immokalee, a food pantry and men’s recovery program (Justin’s Place) to now include a women’s recovery program (Jill’s Place) and a large feeding ministry. SMH businesses developed and expanded during Joe’s tenure include a restaurant, two catering ventures and eight thrift stores."
GNL President Kitty Keane said in the letter: “Joe’s commitment to helping those struggling to find or keep a home in Collier County is extraordinary. We are fortunate to have someone with his knowledge and expertise so dedicated to making our community a better place for all.”
I've spent a considerable amount of time with our Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee chaired by Joe Trachtenberg… a community leader & friend. I'm the one who actually hand-picked him for our Housing Committee… and soon after being appointed was then elected Chairman. He has our strategy headed in a positive and aggressive direction… and is working closely with all County leadership and Commissioners.Feb. 25 letter from Collier County Commissioner Rick LoCastro to a constitutent
Then there's a letter from LoCastro to a constituent that Trachtenberg shared. The letter, sent Feb. 25, praised Trachtenberg:
"I assure you County leadership isn't sitting on our hands. I've spent a considerable amount of time with our Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee chaired by Joe Trachtenberg… a community leader & friend. I'm the one who actually hand-picked him for our Housing Committee… and soon after being appointed was then elected Chairman. He has our strategy headed in a positive and aggressive direction… and is working closely with all County leadership and Commissioners. Also, Commissioner Chris Hall (District 2) is our newly appointed elected official sitting on this Committee and I expect you have sent him an email as well," LoCastro said.
The commissioner added that he has worked closely with Trachtenberg and his four fellow Commissioners.
"Together, we are doing everything possible to come up with designated land locations, projects, incentives, etc… so we can see these long-required housing options turn into reality… rather than what they have been in the past -- mere "discussion items" with the can kicked down the road. Unfortunately, we have many citizens who act supportive of affordable housing projects -- but are quick to remind us 'not in their backyard'," LoCastro said. "We are working hard to find balance and cohesion to address long-overdue required solutions to retain our workforce here in Collier County with affordable options."
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