ORLANDO, Fla. -- After four months of searching, Adriene Kelsey finally found an apartment.
- Affordable Housing Initiative aims to solve housing issue
- Issues include high number of cost burdened households
''I love it, it is wonderful. It’s beautiful, and I can’t wait to get all the way in here,'' she gushed as she walks from empty room to empty room.
She is a single mother of three and found this place with the help of Family Promise of Greater Orlando Rapid Rehousing Program.
She feels blessed to have found the program, because housing in Central Florida is in a bad place.
''It is, it really is. When you riding, and you burning gas, and you trying to look here, look there, look anywhere for a place,'' Kelsey said. ''Sometimes you get so down in it, (you'll) just be like, 'I’ll take anything. You got anything?'''
Tuesday, the Orange County Commission received answers behind why some residents in Orlando, Orange County, Seminole County, and Osceola County have trouble finding afforable housing.
Alberto Vargas and Mitchel Glasser presented a new Regional Affordable Housing Summary report to the commission. One big issue is the high number of cost-burdened households.
''We have 352 households, and 110 of those are cost-burdened, and that is 31 percent for Orange County,'' Glasser said.
Seminole County has 44,000 cost-burdened homes, the city of Orlando 43,000, and Osceola County 31,000. Glasser and Vargas also noted that overall housing production is down, demand for housing is up, more people are renting, and housing prices are up.
The board did approve the report, but they decided not to begin implementation until all the counties and Orlando are on the same page when it comes to the report’s outlined solutions.
One solution includes education for home buyers and renters. This is something Kelsey really wants to see happen.
''I have been in Orlando for a little minute, but I didn’t ever know that there were services like this,'' Kelsey said.
To see the full Orange County Commission meeting, click here.
