Officials with Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter say they will no longer build new homes in Lake County because of high impact fees.  

  • Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter says impact fees are too high for the charity
  • Charity builds and refurbishes homes for those who need them
  • Habitat will continue to refurbish homes in Lake County

The organization says after they finish more than a dozen homes already planned for Lake County, they will move all new construction to Sumter County, where the impact fees are lower. 

Lake County Commissioner Tim Sullivan hopes they can come up with a solution to keep Habitat building in the county.

"It is so important to look at the dollars that we’re spending on affordable housing and maybe we could offset some of the impact it has on homeownership using programs that we get from the state and federal government,” said Sullivan.

Impact fees only apply to new construction.

Habitat officials say they will continue to buy and rehab existing Lake County homes where the fees are not charged.

Habitat officials also said the fees were part of the reason why they're relocating the group's Veterans Village from Leesburg to Umatilla.