OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Next year, a new affordable housing complex will open in Osceola County to house low income seniors.

On Friday, August 5, The Osceola Council on Aging (OCOA) announced it would receive a $5.69 million HUD grant, and an additional $4.3 million from the Osceola County government and the city of Kissimmee.

The money would go towards converting a 6.6 acre golf course into a 60-unit affordable housing complex for seniors whose income is less than $62,000.

The complex will be called Buen Vecino ("Good Neighbor") apartments and will be located at Buena Ventura Lakes.

“It means so much to me to have seniors housed and have a nice safe quality of life so, that they’re able to pay their rent, choose what foods they want to eat, drive their cars, and be independent for as long as they’d like to within their means,” Wendy Ford, the nonprofit’s CEO, said.

Ford said there is currently a five-year-waitlist for the nonprofit’s affording housing program.

Martha Gutierrez, who resides at one of the 50-unit senior affordable housing complexes OCOA developed in St. Cloud 15 years ago, said her life changed when she moved into her apartment.

Gutierrez, who’s retired, moved to the U.S. 35 years ago from Mexico and moved to Osceola County 16 years ago to live closer to her son. She said in her last apartment she paid $135 more than what she received from her retirement benefits so her children helped her payoff the difference.

She worried she would need to move back to Mexico, but in her current home, she can afford rent on her own.

“I’m so happy because it’s enough for me,” Gutierrez said.

Tenants of the Buen Vecino apartments will only need pay 30% of their income on rent, like Gutierrez does.

Construction of the Buen Vecino project will begin in the first quarter of 2023, and towards the end of that year, the application process for rent in the complex will start.