'Affordable Housing Now': PEACE Packs St. Juliana in West Palm Beach and Presses Baxter and Waldron for Answers

WEST PALM BEACH — Faith-based organizations throughout Palm Beach County are calling on local leaders to build more affordable rental housing, and they put the question directly to the two candidates for the District 6 County Commission seat. On Oct. 26, more than 300 people from churches and synagogues across the county packed the pews at St. Juliana Catholic Church in West Palm Beach for a meeting organized by PEACE, Stet News reported on Nov. 1.

PEACE — People Engaged in Active Community Efforts, founded in 1991 and made up of 30 member congregations — has sent its housing proposal to every county commissioner and November candidate, steering-committee member Jim Pettit told the meeting, according to Stet. The proposal would require developers who receive county incentives to provide a percentage of affordable rental housing, or pay an opt-out fee, aimed at households earning 60% or less of the county's median income of $107,600 — 60% is $64,560. PEACE estimates the county needs an additional 48,072 affordable rental units for people in that income range. A 2024 Florida International University study commissioned by the county found the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Palm Beach County rose from $1,899 in 2021 to $2,833 in 2024, a 49.2% increase, and that the county needed 36,181 additional units to meet demand from renters with household incomes of $43,913 or less, at rents no higher than $1,098 a month.

District 6 Commissioner Sarah Baxter, a Republican, and her challenger Katherine Waldron, a Democrat, each agreed to focus on the issue if she wins on Nov. 3, and each said yes when asked if she would support PEACE's proposal — Baxter with a caveat about a balanced approach and the infrastructure that comes with more housing, Waldron with a “Yes, absolutely,” according to Stet. Their ideas differed: Baxter pointed to the county's $200 million housing bond — roughly 1,200 rental units received for $135 million so far — and to smaller micro-units, while Waldron, a former state House member and Port of Palm Beach commissioner, argued for manufactured housing built faster and for holding developers to their set-aside commitments instead of swapping land or paying money. Both warned that change would not come overnight. PEACE's next step is its 2027 Nehemiah Action Assembly on April 12, and a December meeting with incoming Commissioner Erica Whitfield, its lead organizer told Stet.