Affordable Housing Projects Planned for Central Florida

Building homes for those who can’t afford the median sale price of $250,000 in the Central Florida housing market may be the wave of the future.

So says Park Square Homes President Jim Bagley, who has committed to building 10 communities in the next year with homes priced at $250,000 or less.

The reason is simple: Those are the homes that are selling. After all, the average salary in the region is about $35,000. “We just think there’s an incredible buyer pool under $250,000, and that’s what we’re going to go after,” Bagley says. “That is the future of Orlando - no doubt about it.”

But at a time when homes in a lower price range are needed badly, many local governments want to increase fees charged to builders who bring in more residents, Bagley says. Those impact fees, along with higher construction costs, create roadblocks for builders who want to sell affordable homes to lower-income Florida mortgage borrowers.

In response, Orlando and Orange County governments created committees to come up with ideas to make it easier to do just that.

Goal: Lower Florida home prices
The city of Orlando’s nine-member attainable housing task force last month provided 22 recommendations to the city council on how to help home builders keep their prices low.

Meanwhile, Orange County’s nine-person work force housing task force will submit its recommendations to the county commission on May 22. Both committees called on governments to provide more relief to builders.

Giving a break on impact fees would allow builders to price their homes more affordably, says Christian Swann, president of Winter Park-based Swann Building Group and member of the Orange County task force. “At the end of the day, as a developer, I’d rather produce a house at the median income level or lower,” says Swann.

Builder incentives
While the rising cost to build homes is one issue, just getting through the approval process is equally daunting, say builders.

The Orlando task force suggestions included streamlining that process to give developers a fast-track if they’re willing to include homes at lower Florida mortgage rates. One way to do that would be to create redevelopment zones where funds would be available to help builders develop in older areas, says task force chairman Wayne Rich.

The task force also recommended the city give builders impact-fee waivers and density bonuses - allowing them to put more homes in a smaller area - in return for lower rents or home prices, says Rich, of counsel for law firm Broad and Cassel.

Much of those higher-density projects would be within the core of the city, to support mass transit, he says. The committee strongly encouraged mixed-use development on the Lynx public transportation lines.

Meanwhile, the Orange County committee is working to develop a final list of recommendations.

Its preliminary suggestions include creating a work force housing classification, which would allow developments with lower-priced homes to qualify for impact-fee subsidies, concurrency waivers and the like. “I think that could drop the price significantly,” says Swann.

Other recommendations include increasing down-payment assistance from the state or county for Florida mortgage loan shoppers that need it.