By Kate Santich | Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando metro area is now worst in the nation when it comes to finding a place to live for households at the lowest income levels — typically under about $24,600 a year — a new report finds.
The newest Affordable Housing Gap Analysis released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition found just 13 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 households who need them, a drop from 17 in 2018, when Orlando was tied for second worst with Los Angeles.
The findings come as Orlando ranks No. 17 on a recent “Top 100 Best Places To Live” list compiled by Livability.com — an index that weighs education, jobs, affordability, health care, transportation and diversity.
“When you see Orlando being ranked as No.17 in the top best places to live yet worst in the nation for housing affordability, there’s a disconnect here,” said Shelley Lauten, CEO of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness. “This is the most critical issue in our region. At every level except the highest end, we’re at a deficit for housing that people can afford. We cannot continue to grow unless we address that.”
Statewide, 22 percent of renter households — more than 580,000 — are considered extremely low income. That means they earn less than $24,600 for a family of four.
To afford a two-bedroom rental at the fair-market rate, they would need to earn $44,700 a year.
Lauten cited research last year showing the need for an additional 115,000 affordable rental units just to meet demand at the time. Without those units, some 60 percent of residents in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties who make less than $30,000 a year are forced to spend at least half of their income on rent — leaving too little for food, child care, utilities and transportation and making them vulnerable to homelessness.
“Now is the time to roll our sleeves up, take the research and information we’ve obtained through our regional dialogue and implement specific changes to tackle our local housing needs,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who on Thursday announced the launch of a Housing for All task force to implement short- and long-term solutions to the crisis.
The effort has been one of Demings’ top priorities, a spokeswoman said, and the mayor expects a plan by fall that will propose incentives and code changes to support “a greater diversity of housing” and “creating housing prototypes.”
That could include tiny homes or those made from metal shipping containers, an increasingly popular concept in Europe.
According to the housing coalition’s report, the nation as a whole has a shortage of about 7 million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters — with only 37 units available for every 100 households who need them. The best city, Pittsburgh, has 51 units for every 100 extremely low-income households.
Already, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has moved the affordable-housing issue to the forefront, announcing this week that at least 10 projects are already underway in the city.
“There’s not a city in America that doesn’t have an affordable housing issue,” Dyer said. “But we’re tackling it head on.”
But one of the biggest roadblocks has been a lack of state support.
For at least 15 of the past 26 years, Florida legislators have diverted money from the William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Funds to cover other expenses, including tax cuts. The trust was designed to support affordable-housing development and rehabilitation as well as to help homeowners who need down-payment assistance.
This year, Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed using the Sadowski funds strictly for affordable housing, and legislation in both the House and Senate would make that the law.
“We are very hopeful that this is our year to protect Sadowski,” Lauten said. “But we’re so far behind that the question is, will it be enough?”
Article last accessed on March 15, 2019 here. A print-ready version is available here.