socastcmsRssStartAnnette MontgomerysocastcmsRssEndFORT MYERS
Lee County is taking significant steps to address the skyrocketing demand for affordable housing.
Over the next three years, residents can expect the completion of two dozen new affordable housing communities.
The county’s plan includes the addition of over 3,000 affordable housing units, strategically placed following a competitive application process last summer. Some of the locations these projects will be located at is on Hanson Street, Sister Bowman Lane, and Summerlin Road.
This process ensured that the most financially feasible projects were selected for areas with the greatest need.
Jeannie Sutton, Director of Strategic Resources and Government Affairs, highlighted the factors driving this initiative.
“Hurricane Ian had a large impact on our housing market in general. COVID, of course, raised some housing prices here and increased the demand for housing,” said Sutton.
The development of these 24 communities comes with a substantial federal investment.
“We have just over $300 million that’s going towards the development of affordable housing,” Sutton said.
Affordable housing remains a critical focus, as explained by Shelton Weeks, a professor in the Department of Economics & Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University. Weeks explained how affordability is determined.
“You look at the areas where it’s very challenging for your workforce to live in close proximity to not only the places where they’re going to be employed, but the other things that they need in order to go through daily life,” said Weeks.
Weeks also elaborated on the income criteria for affordable housing.
“Most of them start at 120% of the area median income for inclusion, but there are lower tiers to that,” he said.
Weeks emphasized the ongoing need for affordable housing, and said its not a quick fix issue.
“One of the challenges with affordable housing, we always celebrate these new developments when you see that, oh, they’re only going to provide 50 or 100 or 200 units in it, in a single development. A lot of times, that’s a drop in the bucket. But when you see an effort like what we have now, but we’re rolling out multiple affordable housing projects across the county, hopefully that’ll be enough to have a real positive impact,” said Weeks.
Federal resources fund these projects, including $1.1 billion from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in response to Hurricane Ian.
The post Affordable housing plan to bring 3,000 units to Lee County by 2028 appeared first on WINK News.
