The Orlando area’s shortage of affordable housing for low-income families has been named the worst in the nation in an annual report – and the rankings weren’t much better for average earners.
Orlando had just 13 affordable rental units for every 100 families on the extreme low end of the income scale, tying Las Vegas, which has been ranked at the bottom of the list by the National Low Income Housing Coalition for several years.
It’s the first time the coalition has ranked Orlando worst since 2019. The coalition considers the Orlando region to include Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Lake counties.
For middle earners, the Orlando area had 82 housing units for every 100 families, which represented the fourth decline in a row. The region had 106 units per 100 families in 2022.
Luis Amaro said he remembered when $1,500 could get a family a decently-sized house in a middle class neighborhood.
Now, he said he’s concerned about his options and his plans to one day buy a home for him and his son.
“If you don’t own something here in the next four or five years, you’re going to be left on the outside looking in,” Amaro said.
When asked if he was confident he’d be able to carry out his plans, he responded negatively.
Developers have warned they expect prices on homes and rental units to rise if the Federal Reserve makes another interest rate cut or two by the summer – which is now considered by economists to be less likely to happen due to the war in Iran.
High rates have held back the development of housing units, especially large, multi-family complexes that can offer relief to low- and middle-class families.
“We’re in this we’re in this gulf that nobody sees yet,” Craig Ustler said. “You’re sort of living off that really big amount of supply that came on a few years ago, but that’s largely been absorbed.”
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
