Our Mission

Our mission is to design and fund creative solutions to the workforce housing shortage in resort communites starting in the Florida Keys.  To meet demand 2,500 units need to be added to the inventory but due to “rate of growth ordinances” (ROGO) building that many units to meet the need is an impossibility. Contructing new workforce housing units is obviously a critical part of the solution but for now there are only 900 permits available for new construction over the next 10 years so meeting the remaining need without new construction will require creative solutions and we believe that creative solutions require 3 ingredients; community, capital, and expertise.. 

Fishful Living creates and encourages community by tapping to the alignment of interests between residents, businesses, and government.  The workforce housing shortage can be solved once those stakeholders acknowledge that change is required to do so.   Due to the workforce housing shortage change is coming to Key West in one way or another and we believe that the coming should be directed by the community.

Fishful Living generates capital by leaning-in to the community aspect of the concept.  This is done through the creation of hyper-local apparel brands with intellectual property owned by the community.  In Key West that brand is Cayo Hueso Apparel. 

The revenue that Fishful Living generates is designed to be controlled by the people of Key West, in cooperation with business owners and local government, but the ultimate spending decisions will be directed by Key West residents.   

Due to the complexity of the Key West real estate market solving the workforce housing shortage will require top level real estate expertice. Fortunately the island has no shortage of local experts that will be asked to be a part of the solution, but fresh eyes and ideas will be solicited from nationally recognized subject matter experts in niche areas like adaptive reuse, alternative housing, and others.