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2019 Fort Lauderdale Forum: Mayors Focused on Reducing Congestion, Keeping Housing Affordable
Speaking at the February 29 2019 Fort Lauderdale Forum, Fort Lauderdale and Broward County Mayors speak on housing and mobility
March 15, 2019
In June 2018, the Urban Land Institute convened a panel in Christiansted, St. Croix to advise the Virgin Islands Housing Authority and the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority on rebuilding, sustainable economic development, mobility, and affordable housing solutions, providing replicable recommendations for across the Caribbean.
St. Croix Panel focus area
In the wake of two devastating 2017 hurricanes—Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria each rocked St. Croix with Category 5 winds— the island is poised to receive nearly $2 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a portion of which, if used strategically, could potentially be used to support the transformation of the island’s current social and economic footing. Now, island officials wish to use these funds in a manner that considers St. Croix’s long-term economic viability, making serious changes to its infrastructure while strengthening entrepreneurship, innovation, and housing affordability.
To further this effort, the Virgin Islands Housing Authority (VIHA), in consultation with the government of the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority convened a ULI Advisory Services panel as an initial step in a long-term process to create an integrated approach to recovery and reconstruction efforts and reach community consensus about how the territory should evolve over the next 20 years.
The panel emphasized bolstering the island’s economic growth through smaller scale, equitable, and entrepreneurship focused investments. In addition, panelists provided recommendations to help the VIHA in their reimagining of the island’s current housing framework, with an emphasis towards lower construction costs and greater community participation.
The panel focused on equitable economic development, innovative afford-able housing development, transportation and mobility, creative community engagement, and resilience—or, in other words, those challenges and opportunities the panel believes are most critical to ensuring a resilient future for St. Croix.
The VIHA and the VIHFA asked the panel to address the following questions related to economic development, affordable housing, mobility, and placemaking.
The panel identified many small-to-large recommendations and laid out replicable strategies that can be implemented in the study area, across St. Croix, and throughout the USVI. These recommendations together are a plan for how to strengthen Christiansted by incorporating a modern-day and innovative approach to public housing, enhance community vibrancy, and create stronger connectivity to, from, and within the downtown.
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