By Tony Doris, Palm Beach Post
A quality of life that for so long has been attainable for those of us of moderate income now threatens to slip beyond our reach. Condo living, which for decades has drawn millions of out-of-staters to Florida’s warmth and coastal bounty, is increasingly too expensive to sustain, particularly for retirees.
Some are lucky enough to pocket cash from developers who want to replace their aging buildings with luxury towers. But many who don’t want to cede their coastal views or close-in living are having the pile carpeting pulled out from under them, as the very architecture that attracted them crumbles in the sun and salt air and they’re left holding the bill for extraordinary repairs. Some may be foreclosed, evicted or evacuated and see their buildings condemned.
The Palm Beach Post reported that as of mid-January, nearly one in five condo buildings in Palm Beach County that are covered by the state’s new safety-inspection law have failed to submit even initial inspection reports. That’s a sure sign of a looming crisis.
The county government finds itself in the difficult position of deciding whether to fine the owners to force compliance with a safety law they’re helpless to obey, because it’s too hard or expensive. But it’s not the county the owners need to fear; it’s the state lawmakers who, though they’re supposed to protect us in Tallahassee, have failed to act.
We’re nearly helpless to respond as individuals. Our state government must respond for us. The time to do that is now. During their session next month, Florida legislators must summon the political courage to acknowledge reality. The time for climate change denial is over. The time for kneeling before insurance industry lobbyists is over. Your constituents need your help.
The crisis gained urgency with the collapse in 2021 of an attractive Surfside condo tower that, in one post-midnight moment of terror, buried 98 lives in a pile of debris. The subsequent inspection mandate, by itself challenging for retirees to navigate, is coming due now, at a time when insurers have jacked up rates in anticipation of climate extremes that increase the frequency of hurricanes and floods.
This is not a small problem. As reported by The Post’s Mike Diamond, a survey by The Florida Policy Project estimates Florida has more than 1.1 million condo units in buildings more than 30 years old. Palm Beach County has nearly 160,000 of them and many owners are increasingly desperate to sell. “West Palm Beach, according to the report, saw a year-over-year increase in listings of 52%,” Diamond wrote, “one of the highest in Florida.”
Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures Realty, says the county is deep in a buyer’s market, with a 10.1-month supply of condos waiting for new owners. Condos in buildings 30-plus years-old account for 84 percent of the 6,100 Palm Beach County listings and those are going for much lower prices than the market average.
In recent months we’ve heard developers’ lawyers urging condo owners to take the money and run. We’ve run one or two op-ed columns by them in the Palm Beach Post. It’s a valid option for many, given the financial pressures bearing down, not to mention equally valid concerns about buildings’ safety.
But it’s not a solution for those who want to stay and it avoids dealing with the underlying problems: the need to help condo associations shore-up their structures, and to find alternatives or impose restraints on an insurance industry that offers no solutions of its own. And it does nothing to address the main culprit: a climate that we’ve taxed beyond its capacity to absorb what’s blowing in the wind.
Florida voters this year need to send a message to the climate deniers in the halls of power. Floridians are suffering and solutions will not present themselves.
Having seen “A Complete Unknown” at the movies recently, it was hard not to be impressed anew with the timeliness of Bob Dylan’s lyrics. His 1963 song “The Times They Are A-Changin'” rang just as true for the new challenges we face. Tell those who stand in the way, he sang, “Your old road is rapidly agin’/Please get out of the new one/If you can’t lend your hand.”
Tony Doris is editorial page editor of the Palm Beach Post. This opinion piece was originally published by the Palm Beach Post, which is a media partner of The Invading Sea. Banner photo: Buildings along the coast in Surfside, including the site of the Champlain Towers building after it had been cleared following its collapse. (iStock image).
Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here. To support The Invading Sea, click here to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu.
