Palm Coast Launches Free Housing Workshop Series to Help Residents Navigate Homeownership Challenges

Palm Coast is rolling out a comprehensive free workshop series to help residents navigate the complexities of homeownership, from avoiding foreclosure to protecting property from scams. The Housing Empowerment Workshop Series, announced by the city this week, will run monthly from August 2026 through July 2027 at the Southern Recreation Center, offering both group education and one-on-one expert consultations.

The 11-session series addresses the full spectrum of housing challenges facing Florida homeowners and renters: rising insurance costs, property tax appeals, predatory lending, disaster preparedness, and accessing government assistance programs. Each workshop runs from 9 a.m. to noon, with a presentation followed by individual consultations with housing counselors and program administrators.

What's happening

The workshops will take place at Southern Recreation Center, 1290 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast. Each session features a group presentation from 9 to 10 a.m., followed by one-on-one discussions with housing experts from 10:15 a.m. to noon. The series is free and open to the public, though registration through parksandrec.fun is encouraged.

The schedule begins August 29, 2026, with Basic Home Maintenance, covering preventative measures to protect property values and avoid costly repairs. September 19 addresses Property Taxes & Exemptions, including homestead exemptions, portability, and the tax appeal process. October 10 focuses on Foreclosure Prevention, detailing early intervention strategies, loss mitigation options, and loan modifications.

November 21 will explain City CDBG and Flagler County SHIP Housing Programs, with representatives from both jurisdictions available for questions about First-Time Homebuyer and Housing Rehabilitation programs. These programs typically serve low- to moderate-income households earning 80 percent or less of area median income, and the city specifically encourages residents in that income bracket to attend.

The December 19 session covers Deed Theft & Heirs Property, addressing property scams and estate planning to preserve generational wealth. January 16, 2027, examines the financial advantages of homeownership and wealth building. February 13 tackles Tax Refund Scams & Strategic Housing Goals, teaching residents to protect assets and leverage refunds for housing stability.

March 13 offers Credit Readiness & Budgeting instruction on improving credit scores, reducing debt, and preparing for mortgage qualification. May 22 addresses Insurance and Disaster Readiness, covering homeowner insurance and natural disaster response—particularly relevant given Florida's coastal hurricane exposure and the ongoing property insurance crisis. June 12 focuses on Housing Mobility, including voucher-based housing searches and landlord communication. The series concludes July 17, 2027, with Tenant Rights & Responsibilities, explaining lease agreements, eviction procedures, habitability standards, and security deposit rules.

"Housing stability is one of the most important foundations for a thriving community," said Jacqueline Gonzalez, Site Development Coordinator, in the city's announcement. "These workshops are designed to give residents practical tools, trusted guidance, and direct access to experts so they can make confident, informed decisions about their homes and their future."

Why Palm Coast homeowners face mounting pressures

The workshop series arrives as Florida homeowners confront a convergence of housing cost pressures that have made financial literacy and program access increasingly critical. Property insurance rates in coastal Florida counties have spiked over the past three years as carriers withdrew from the state or sharply raised premiums, driven by hurricane losses and litigation costs. Flagler County sits on the Atlantic coast between St. Johns and Volusia counties, placing it in the direct path of tropical systems and subjecting homeowners to wind and flood insurance requirements that can rival mortgage payments for older homes.

Property tax bills have climbed alongside home values throughout Northeast Florida, where the post-pandemic migration surge drove assessments sharply higher. Florida's homestead exemption—which caps annual assessment increases at 3 percent for primary residences—offers significant protection, but only for those who file for it, and the portability provisions that allow homeowners to transfer accumulated Save Our Homes benefits when moving remain poorly understood. The September workshop directly addresses these mechanics, which can mean thousands of dollars in annual tax savings but require navigating county property appraiser procedures and appeal deadlines.

Foreclosure risks, meanwhile, remain elevated in Florida compared to pre-pandemic norms, according to industry tracking, as pandemic-era forbearance programs expired and variable-rate mortgages reset at higher interest rates. Early intervention—the focus of the October session—is the key to successful loss mitigation, but many homeowners delay seeking help until after missing multiple payments, significantly narrowing their options for loan modifications or repayment plans.

The deed theft and heirs property session reflects a growing concern in Florida's rapidly appreciating real estate market. Deed fraud typically targets elderly or recently deceased homeowners, with scammers filing fraudulent deeds to steal equity, while heirs property issues arise when homes pass informally through generations without clear title, leaving families vulnerable to partition sales or clouded ownership. Both problems disproportionately affect communities of color and lower-income families, where informal estate transfers have been more common and vigilance against scams may be lower.

Access to federal and local housing dollars

The November workshop on CDBG and SHIP programs offers a direct line to housing assistance dollars that many eligible residents never access due to lack of awareness or difficulty navigating application processes. Community Development Block Grant funds, allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to cities like Palm Coast, typically support housing rehabilitation for low-income homeowners—emergency repairs, accessibility modifications, and code compliance work that homeowners cannot afford out of pocket.

Florida's State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program, administered by Flagler County, provides down payment and closing cost assistance to first-time homebuyers and funds rehabilitation projects, serving households up to 140 percent of area median income depending on the specific program. These programs are chronically underutilized relative to demand because application requirements—income documentation, homeowner counseling certificates, contractor bids—can be daunting without guidance. The workshop's Q&A format with city and county staff is designed to demystify those barriers and walk residents through eligibility determination and documentation.

For renters, the June and July sessions address the mechanics of housing voucher programs and tenant legal protections under Florida's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Voucher holders—typically receiving assistance through the federal Housing Choice Voucher program administered by local housing authorities—often struggle to find landlords willing to accept vouchers in tight rental markets, and the workshop will cover communication strategies and local resources to support successful searches. Florida's landlord-tenant law is less tenant-protective than in many states, making knowledge of lease terms, eviction procedures, and habitability standards essential for renters negotiating with landlords or facing displacement.

Building financial resilience for long-term stability

The financial literacy components of the series—credit readiness, budgeting, tax refund strategy, and the wealth-building aspects of homeownership—address the fundamental economic instability that drives housing insecurity. Credit scores below 620 effectively lock borrowers out of conventional mortgage financing, forcing them into Federal Housing Administration loans with higher ongoing costs or leaving them renting indefinitely. The March session's focus on debt reduction and credit repair strategies aims to move residents toward mortgage qualification, which in Florida's appreciating market has become the primary vehicle for middle-class wealth accumulation.

The February workshop on tax refunds is designed to counter predatory tax preparation services that charge exorbitant fees for refund advances while steering low-income filers away from using refunds strategically—toward emergency savings, debt paydown, or down payment funds. That session will also address identity theft and refund fraud, which have proliferated as tax filing moved online.

Homeownership's wealth-building advantages—the January topic—are well documented but unevenly distributed. In appreciating markets like Flagler County, where home values have climbed substantially over the past decade, homeowners build equity passively through price growth while renters face rising rents with no asset accumulation. The challenge for lower-income households is bridging the gap to ownership, which the combined effect of the credit, budgeting, and first-time homebuyer program sessions is intended to address.

How residents can participate

Registration for the workshops is handled through the city's parks and recreation system at parksandrec.fun, though walk-ins will be accommodated as space allows. The sessions are designed to be standalone—residents can attend the topics most relevant to their situation without committing to the full series. The one-on-one consultation period after each presentation is a key feature, allowing residents to discuss their specific circumstances with housing counselors, program administrators, or financial educators privately.

Additional information about Palm Coast's housing services, including eligibility details for the city's CDBG programs, is available at palmcoast.gov/housing-services or by calling the Planning Division at 386-986-3736. The Planning Division handles housing program administration and can help residents determine which programs they may qualify for before attending the relevant workshop.

The series reflects a broader shift among Florida cities toward proactive housing stability programs as cost pressures threaten to displace long-term residents. By concentrating workshops at a single, accessible location over nearly a year and pairing education with direct access to program staff, Palm Coast is betting that practical, face-to-face guidance can help residents navigate systems that on paper seem impenetrably complex—and in doing so, keep more families stably housed as Northeast Florida's growth and cost-of-living challenges continue to intensify.