High Housing Costs Are Driving Floridians To Live On Derelict Boats

Screenshot: NBC 6 South Florida on YouTube

In southern Florida, police are cracking down on a new environmental hazard: Derelict boats, left floating just offshore, that can leak pollutants into the local waterways. Yet, the focus of the effort doesn’t seem to be the boats themselves — instead, cops are more concerned about the unhoused people living aboard.

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When NBC Miami wrote up the police effort, it gave a quick nod towards why so many folks were forced to abandon landlocked housing and resort to rickety old boats for shelter: The rising cost of living. Yet, those few words do little to explain just how dire the housing situation really is in Martin County.

According to census data, per capita income for Martin County between 2018 and 2022 sat at $50,748 (in 2022 dollars.) Using the classic “earnings of 40 times rent” rule, that would mean the average person down there can afford rent of $1,268 per month — hundreds of dollars less than even the cost of studio apartments in the area.

Going by household income, and assuming the lower costs of homeownership, isn’t much better. Census data reports median household incomes just under $78,000 for Martin County, which a calculator based on current interest rates will say nets you a home-buying budget of $268,883. Yet, for Martin County, the median home sale price last month was a whopping $437,000 — far beyond the reach of the average area household, to say nothing of the folks earning less than that.

Rickety old boats leaking toxic fluids into Florida waterways is a problem. Yet, for the folks who live on those boats, it’s refuge — a place to hunker down, get out of the sun, and sleep. If Florida wants to solve its “boat squatter” issue, it’s looking in the wrong place.