The Westlake City Council on Tuesday, June 2 approved revisions to the city’s housing assistance program that they hope will make more people happy.
Pulling from a $4.6 million non-taxpayer-supported trust fund, HAPPY — Housing Assistance Purchase Program Yearly — has broadened its criteria to make it easier for applicants to receive up to $65,000 in assistance, depending on household income and other factors.
The HAPPY assistance comes in the form of a zero percent interest, forgivable loan that can be used for a down payment, closing costs or buying down the interest rate on a new construction home costing up to $679,324.
Meanwhile, as an adjunct to HAPPY, the city is introducing its Community Retention Consideration program to provide an opportunity for qualifying long-term Westlake residents to gain similar assistance while upsizing or downsizing their homes within the community.
“People’s circumstances change,” Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor said Tuesday. “A spouse may pass away or there’s a divorce or the family grows… [and] they can use a leg up getting into a new place… The goal is to keep Westlakers in Westlake.”
Councilman Gary Werner said he’s definitely supportive of the revisions to the fund, which has been a calling card of the young municipality for years. In fact, he said he’d like to see it expanded to include resale of existing homes. He said doing so would benefit residents of the 55-and-over Cresswind neighborhood.
“The original program did not need to say, ‘new construction,’” Werner said.
The cost of adding resale to the mix, he said, could be covered by a $1,500 fee to the seller that would go into HAPPY or a separate fund set up for the purpose. That is how the existing HAPPY program is funded, with the builder paying the fee.
O’Connor said he does not want to see HAPPY or a similar program focused on resale while new housing inventory is available.
Westlake, which was incorporated in 2016, has been the fastest-growing community in Palm Beach County and one of the fastest growing in Florida for years. It is still only about 58 percent built out, O’Connor noted.
“It’s important to grow the city, to add rooftops, not simply turnover houses,” he said. “We want more people moving here, buying new homes, walking in our streets, shopping in our stores.”
The revisions “build upon the success of the HAPPY program, which was recently recognized with the Housing Impact Award by the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County for its efforts to expand homeownership opportunities and strengthen the local housing market,” Housing Assistance Program Manager Taylor Garcia wrote in an e-mail. “We believe these enhancements represent an innovative approach to workforce and attainable housing, balancing affordability, community investment and long-term resident retention.”
And Garcia should know. The 2020 Florida Atlantic University graduate, wife and mother, got an assist from HAPPY to buy a home in Westlake. She took over as program manager in February and already this year, HAPPY has assisted 38 applicants.
“Who better than someone who has been helped by program, right?” O’Connor said. “We’re very pleased with her.”
O’Connor said there continues to be a “synchronicity” between the city’s buyer-assistance program and those of its primary developer and the state.
Minto Communities USA, which created the 6.5-square-mile community out of an orange grove, has a Welcome Heroes program offering 3 percent off the base purchase price or closing costs of a new Minto home in Westlake, potentially saving thousands of dollars for first-responders, healthcare and government workers, teachers and active-duty military members.
Florida’s state-funded Hometown Heroes program serves the same basic demographic, offering eligible borrowers a 30-year fixed-rate first mortgage at a competitive rate, among other benefits.
In other business:
- The council held the first reading of an ordinance to allow multifamily developments to be served under commercial-style solid waste collection with valet or centralized container service rather than individual curbside carts.
- The council agreed to hold their first fiscal year 2027 budget workshop on Tuesday, June 30 at 6 p.m. at the Lodge at Westlake Adventure Park (5490 Kingfisher Blvd.). The council’s next regular meeting will be held Thursday, July 16 at 6 p.m.
- The council approved a proclamation recognizing June 19 as Juneteenth Independence Day in Westlake and affirming its historical significance and celebration of African American freedom and achievement.
- During public comments, the council was pressed to strongly oppose construction of the proposed AI hyperscale data center known as Project Tango off Southern Blvd. near 20-Mile Bend.
O’Conner said the city’s attorney is working on an ordinance related to such centers and Westlake, but beyond that, there is little that Westlake can do except express opposition to the Palm Beach County Commission.
The city has transmitted a resolution to the commission opposing a hyperscale data center within five miles of schools or residences, O’Connor noted, and urged concerned citizens to speak out at the July 15 commission meeting, when the issue is expected to come up.
