KISSIMMEE, Fla. — At a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, Osceola community leaders celebrated a new, “one-of-its-kind” affordable housing project, which they hope will be move-in ready by spring 2024. 

​Dillingham Apartments will be a permanent supportive housing community with 30 rental units, providing wraparound support services for low-income people struggling with mental illness and/or substance abuse issues.

“We just want to give them a helping hand, meet them where they’re at,” Kissimmee Mayor Olga González told Spectrum News. “The majority of the problem, especially at a time like now, its mental illness and substance abuse. They wanna forget their problems, so they drown.”

During Friday’s press conference, González became noticeably emotional while addressing the crowd and speaking about the severity of Central Florida’s housing affordability crisis. She later shared with Spectrum News that, for her, the issue is a personal one.

“I was homeless. I was evicted from my home with my children,” González said.

That happened back in New York City, where González said she grew up: “in Harlem, in the ‘hood.” She said she and her kids took shelter in a cold basement with no heating, after they were evicted following lay-offs from González’s former employer, General Motors.

Research shows that renters of color face a disproportionately high risk of eviction compared to white renters, and that women – especially women of color – are more likely to be evicted than men. And the presence of children in a household increases that household’s eviction risk by 17 percent, even when controlling for other factors, according to one study published by Harvard University. 

González says her eviction experience changed her life: “I met God,” she said. Moving forward, she says that experience motivated her to help other people in their struggles: from fellow employees at GM, where she eventually returned to work; to chronically homeless people in Central Florida. 

During González’s first week as Kissimmee’s mayor, she says Osceola County District 4 Commissioner Cheryl Grieb pitched her the Dillingham Apartments project–and González didn’t even have to think twice.

Permanent supportive housing stems from a philosophy known as “Housing First”: the idea that in order to thrive in society, people first need a safe, stable place to live. According to that “Housing First” model, housing should not be conditional upon somebody’s sobriety, income level or social status. 

Florida only has 57 permanent supportive beds for every 100 people who need one, according to the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida.

“To be able to supply that permanent supportive housing is paramount for Osceola County,” Grieb said. “We have a lot of housing for families [experiencing] homelessness. We have some for individual homelessness. But we really didn’t have anything specifically for those chronic homeless that need those extra services.”

Park Place Behavioral Health, the nonprofit that owns the land for Dillingham Apartments, will oversee the community’s supportive behavioral and mental health programs for residents. Birdsong Housing Partners is another collaborator on the project.

Financially, Dillingham Apartments is supported by the National Housing Trust Fund and the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Additionally, Grieb said she opted to put $160,000 of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward rental assistance for the project.

“This is a joint effort,” González said. “Working together in unity is how we’re gonna get things done.”