SANFORD, Fla. — A new 90-unit affordable apartment community for senior citizens in Sanford opened Thursday.  

What You Need To Know

The new Georgetown Square community replaces Redding Gardens, apartments that were demolished in 2013 along with five other Sanford Housing Authority properties that were in deteriorating condition. U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) authorized the demolition of all five properties.

Construction on the $14 million project began last spring. The project was substantially funded by low-income housing tax credits. 

“It’s a good, safe community,” said Melvin Philpot, board chair for Sanford Housing Authority, who said he grew up a few blocks away from Georgetown Square. 

The community is centrally-located, walking distance from downtown Sanford, and close to amenities like the shuttle. Philpot said plans are also in the works to begin construction soon on two other parcels of land owned by the housing authority.

“The best is yet to come. Because we still have a lot of land, a lot of property to develop that’s on our radar screen,” Philpot said.

Nationwide, the country faces a shortage of seven million rental homes that are affordable and available to extremely low-income renters, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (link to embed: https://reports.nlihc.org/gap).  The issue is particularly challenging in Florida, where the cost of rent has increased steadily in recent years. (link to embed: https://assets.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/faa/FAA_2020_Report_on_Drivers_of_Multifamily_Housing_Costs_and_Affordability_in_Florida.pdf) 

Seventy-five of the previous Redding Garden residents were relocated through HUD’s Section 8 housing program and given the first option to return to the new Georgetown Square Apartments when the application process began in August, according to spokesperson Candace Rotolo. Of those 75 residents, five chose to return to Georgetown Square.  

Those interested in living at Georgetown Square must be at least 55 years old. You may go online or call 321-243-9150 to learn more information.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering Affordable Housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.