Florida Mortgage Lender Funds Affordable Housing Research Grant
As many are acutely aware, as Florida mortgage costs have skyrocketed, the availability of affordable housing has declined statewide.
This issue has become critical throughout Florida as communities try to ensure that people of all income levels have access to housing.
What that in mind, a $500,000 donation from the Wachovia Foundation to the University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning will allow researchers to address the state’s affordable housing issues.
As housing costs rise, the group will start its work by identifying and assessing the suitability of sites for both affordable housing development and preservation.
“Wachovia is proud to partner with and support the University of Florida in this innovative research,” said Robert Helms, CEO for the Florida mortgage lender.
“We believe that everyone deserves a safe, stable place to live, which is why we have made community development one of our top priorities.”
The three-year grant will support interdisciplinary research in the college between the department of urban and regional planning and the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing, located in the Rinker School of Building Construction.
“Wachovia’s funding allows us to bring together expertise of the Shimberg Center, the research and knowledge of the department of urban and regional planning and the cutting-edge analysis available through the GeoPlan Center,” said William O’Dell, director and manager of the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse in the Shimberg Center.
O’Dell will work with assistant professor Kristin Larsen and associate professor Ilir Bejleri from urban and regional planning to create a model that will assist Florida communities in evaluating and ranking the areas identified as suitable for affordable housing.
The software and Florida real estate mapping tools they will create will remain unique in that it will incorporate the local values and vision of the communities with which they work. A critical component of the process is seeking and receiving community input.
“We plan to work with three case study communities. We are already starting to work with Jacksonville, and we hope to identify two other communities who are interested in working with us,” Larsen said.
“The community-based solutions that will result from this model represent an exciting potential breakthrough in the Florida housing market. Wachovia is delighted to be a part of this evolution and to be a catalyst for community development in Florida,” said Michelle Braun, Florida Community Relations Executive for Wachovia.
For would-be Florida home mortgage seekers from the Panhandle to the Keys, the announcement of this study’s funding and its seriousness can only be considered good news.
SOURCE: University of Florida
