Leading Question

Definitely. Although public discussion about the issue seems to have cooled off, there remains a need for homes that teachers, law enforcement officials, healthcare workers and other employees can afford to buy, employers and real estate experts say. "There’s still a limited supply out there," says Brian Settle, chief human resources officer for NCH Healthcare System in Naples.

Prices skyrocketed so much before the slowdown that, despite a recent drop in prices, housing is still unaffordable for many Southwest Florida workers. Using a common measure—three times the buyer’s annual salary—teachers earning in the mid-$30,000s can afford homes only in the low- to mid-$100,000s.

Median home prices for 2006 were $245,900 in Lee County, and $365,750 in Collier County, both of which topped the Florida median of $236,000, according to data from the Naples office of Fishkind & Associates.

"People feel the need is not as great with the market dropping the way it is. Unfortunately, it’s still needed, because people don’t have the cash flow or the money to actually afford to move into these homes," says Lee Ford, vice president of the nonprofit Lee County Housing Development Corp.

The median annual household income for 2006 was $63,000 in Collier and $54,700 in Lee, although Fishkind senior associate Russ Weyer notes that those figures are inflated by the region’s affluent retirees.

Many of the 6,000-plus properties on the market in Naples are priced from $350,000 to the $500,000s, says Phil Wood, president and CEO of John R. Wood Realtors. "I hate to see any government people or politicians or anyone else think [the need] has gone away simply because of what the market has done," he says.