Local View: Make investments in affordable housing now.
Let’s face it. The fact that there is a significant lack of affordable housing in Central Florida more than likely doesn’t affect you. Or at least you don’t think it does. Chances are, you know someone who
affected by this growing crisis. It could be your co-worker, your neighbor or even a family member. The effects of a lack of affordable housing might not be outwardly visible, like other life-altering challenges, but they can be just as stressful and debilitating to a family dealing with its impact.
Most renters are housing-cost burdened, spending over 30 percent of their incomes on rent as the supply of affordable rental units fails to keep up with the growing need. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, an Orange County resident would need to work 82 hours a week at minimum wage to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent. Too many people in Central Florida are struggling between making their housing payments and buying food for their families.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando homeowners are able to purchase their homes at an affordable mortgage and provide stability for their families. Vital funding that Habitat Greater Orlando uses to finance the development of affordable homes is in danger of being cut drastically by Congress — and in some cases eliminated entirely — thus worsening the affordable-housing crisis facing our community. The impact these proposed cuts would have on our Central Florida communities would be significant.
Habitat Greater Orlando relies on federal funding through Community Development Block Grants, SHOP (Self Help Home Improvement Program), HOME (Home Investment Partnership Program), and NSP3 (Neighborhood Revitalization). These programs assisted us in building our second planned community, Butler’s Preserve, and purchasing our third planned community, Arbor Bend. They also facilitated a partnership with the city of Orlando for providing down-payment assistance and funding a partnership with Orange County to rehab foreclosed homes for resale to Habitat homeowners.
The proposed cuts by Congress would also eliminate the AmeriCorps program, a vital component of Habitat Greater Orlando’s work to partner with more families working toward homeownership.
Having a stable home is the foundation for everything. A child who is stable and showing up to school makes everyone in the classroom learn better. People with stable jobs pay taxes, and employers don’t have to endure the expense of firing, then hiring and training new people.
With more and more families across America facing the choice between making housing payments and buying food, we are called to rise to this challenge together. Now is the time to make greater investments, not fewer, in affordable housing and community-development programs. Please join us to urge members of Congress to prioritize solutions that will end the affordable-housing crisis.
Everyone deserves a decent place to live, and you can do something today to help make that possible for more Central Florida families. The families you help may be closer than you think.