The Struggle To Build Affordable Housing

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN FLORIDA IS ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING AND URGENT ISSUES FACING FAMILIES IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. THE COST OF LIVING HAS LONG OUTPACED WAGES. WGCU’S BRYANT. MONTE EXPLAINS HOW HABITAT FOR HUMANITY IN COLLIER COUNTY MAKES HOME OWNERSHIP. A REALITY FOR LOWER-INCOME FAMILIES. >> THE SOUNDS OF PROGRESS. TO HELP ALLEVIATE THE GAP BETWEEN WHAT FAMILIES CAN AND CAN'T AFFORD. LISA LEFKO IS THE CEO OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. >> OF COLLIER COUNTY. BETTER THAN 50% OF OUR WORKFORCE ARE IN THE LOWEST WAGE SECTORS AND IN A COMMUNITY LIKE THIS WHERE HOUSING COSTS ARE SO HIGH, WE HAVE A HUGE GAP BETWEEN WAGES AND COST OF LIVING. AND SO THE CRUNCH COMES TO REALITY IN IN TERMS OF HOW C. >> A RECENT STUDY FROM THE SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR HOUSING STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FINDS A COLLIER COUNTY CONSISTENTLY EXCEEDS THE AVERAGE STATEWIDE PRICES FOR HOMES, ESPECIALLY IN AN AREA FOR LOW INCOME RESIDENTS MAKE UP THE LARGEST GROUP OF COST BURDEN HOUSEHOLDS >> HERE IN COLLIER COUNTY, WE'VE BEEN A DEFICIT OF MORE THAN 10,000 UNITS FOR DECADES. SO THAT'S A LOT TO MAKE UP HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HERE IN COLLIER COUNTY IS THIS COMMUNITY SOLE PROVIDER OF ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOME OWNERSHIP. SO THAT NEED HERE JUST CONTINUES TO BE CRITICAL. ALMOST A CRISIS LEVEL. >> HABITAT FOR HUMANITY'S HOME BUYING PROGRAM MEANS POTENTIAL BUYERS WHERE THEY ARE FINANCIALLY IF THEY QUALIFY THE MORTGAGE IS NO MORE THAN 30% OF A FAMILY'S INCOME. BUT, NIC, WHAT GONZALES HAS WORKED AND LIVED IN NAPLES FOR 15 YEARS. SHE WAS RECENTLY APPROVED AND IS EXCITED ABOUT BECOMING A HOMEOWNER AT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY'S LATEST DEVELOPMENT. LAST PALM OS. >> I'VE BEEN PRAYING. WE'VE BEEN PRAYING SINCE I PUT IN THE APPLICATION AND WHEN I GOT MY APPROVAL DAY, THAT WAS EMOTIONAL FOR ME WHEN I WENT HOME AND SHARED WITH MY KIDS, MY DAUGHTER WAS SCREAMING FOR JOY. THEY CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE THEIR OWN ROOMS AND IT'S JUST BEEN A BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY. AND I THINK IT'LL PROBABLY BE MORE MOST KNOW WHAT I GET TO KEEP. >> WELL, AS SPANS, ROUGHLY 70 MAKERS AND WILL HAVE 210 NEW AFFORDABLE HOMES IN NORTH NAPLES. THE FAMILY-FRIENDLY 4 BEDROOMS AS A PART OF THE PROGRAM BARS INVEST 250 TO 500 HOURS OF SWEAT EQUITY TIME TO HELP PAY FOR THEIR SHARE OF THE INVESTMENT VOLUNTEERS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS CAN ALSO ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES AND GET DIRTY WITH IT. A MAJOR FUNDER, STEVE OFF HAS BEEN VOLUNTEERING FOR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY SINCE HURRICANE IRMA IN 2017. >> WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM IS IT'S NOT A HANDOUT PROGRAM. IT'S A LIFT UP PROGRAM. YOU KNOW, IT'S IT'S HELPING PEOPLE WHO ARE VERY DISADVANTAGED TO GET INTO A HOME AND HAVE A FAMILY IN A FAMILY CENTER. BACK THEIR DIGNITY. AND, YOU KNOW, THEIR THEIR SENSE OF OWNERSHIP AND THEY'RE NO LONGER VICTIMS. BUT >> YOU KNOW, THEY'RE PART OF THE COMMUNITY. LEFKO HAS BEEN WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY FOR 25 YEARS AND SHARES WHAT HAS KEPT HER SO DEDICATED. >> THE THING THAT ABSOLUTELY KEEPS ME SO CONNECTED TO THE AMAZING MIRACULOUS WORK THAT HAPPENS HERE. OUR OUR HOME BUYERS HEARING THEIR STORIES AND WHERE THEY COME FROM. ALL THAT THEY HAVE BEEN THROUGH TO BE A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ECONOMIC FABRIC OF THIS COMMUNITY. AND THEN TO BE ABLE TO WATCH OVER THE ARC OF TIME AS THEY ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS. I ALSO HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING WITH AMAZING VOLUNTEERS. >> FULL AND EQUAL JOY AND HOPE COME IN THE FORM OF NEW BEGINNINGS AND UNLOCK DOORS LEADING TO NEW POSSIBILITIES. >> NAPLES IS JUST REALLY AN AFFORDABLE AND IT'S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO TO HAVE A HOME TO CALL YOUR OWN. >> AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE, THE FIRST 2 BUILDINGS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT IS ESTIMATED TO BE COMPLETED AND FAMILIES CAN START MOVING IN BY MIDSUMMER THIS YEAR. WITH EVERY JUICY NEWS. BRYANT'S MONTE. Habitat for humanity of Lee and Hendry County is also working year round to help solve our affordable housing crisis. And joining us now is president and CEO of habitat for humanity of Lee in Hendry County. Becky Lucas, thank you so much for joining us today. It's such a pleasure to have you here. You have been with the nonprofit for 26 years. Yes. Can you describe briefly how the program works in Lee and Hendry County and who qualifies? Well, most people know us. Best buy our affordable homeownership program, where we build new homes and we rehab existing homes, and we sell them to qualified low income earning families using an affordable mortgage. Families who qualify for habitat for humanity homes make 80% or less of the area median income. They also have to be able to afford a mortgage. That means they have to have work history and be able to partner with us. So habitat homeowners help to build their home or the homes of their neighbors, putting in 300 hours of sweat equity, taking homeownership classes, budgeting classes, home maintenance, all the things that we can do to set them up to be a successful homeowner. If someone is interested in learning if they qualify, you have a home counseling program. Tell me about them. We do. Any family who is in need of housing help, whether that be interested in owning a habitat for humanity home or just understanding what their housing options are here in Lee and Hendry counties can come in and we have full time HUD certified housing counselors there on staff with us. They will meet with the family to help them define what they need and what their goals are, and then help them achieve their goals, those goals. Some families meet with us maybe for an hour or two, helping to maybe understand our credit report or get debt reduction tips. Some families meet with us for months in order to qualify for a habitat home. Some even for years. Whatever they want to achieve, we will work with them every step of the way. And this is a free service. We want people to succeed and we will walk with them to do that. And you have a mortgage company within your nonprofit, which I did not realize. Yes, yes. So we are a qualified loan originator. So when we build our homes in partnership with the families who will be purchasing them, we then sell them the homes using a habitat 0% interest loan. So the families actually pay us back. And the mortgages are based on 30% of their income. So that means we set their mortgage payments to be affordable. And that 30% is also inclusive of taxes and insurance. This makes a huge difference because many of the families coming to us for help actually spend over 50% of their income just to put a roof over their heads. And that is not sustainable. Is not sustainable. If you receive two paychecks a month and one of them is going just to put a roof over your head and you and your family and and have a sustainable place to live. How are you going to be able to afford child care and groceries and medical care? It's just not sustainable. You know, you were telling me that is $80,000. The income the for a family of four, that would would qualify. Right. So we have the income qualifications on our website and that is area median income changes every year. But right now for a family of four making 80% of the area median income, that is $80,000. How critical is the need in our area for what you provide? The the need for affordable housing is so critical here in Lee and Hendry counties. You know, right after Covid we saw this massive spike of need. We were having at least 20 families come through our door every day looking for housing help. Now that has stabilized a little bit, but that doesn't mean there's not so many families out there. I think the latest statistics that I saw was that there's nearly 30,000 families here in just Lee County alone that are struggling every single month to meet their rent. How do you decide where you put the homes? My understanding is they're all over from Clewiston to Bonita Springs to Cape Coral. Yes. Yes. So we our strategy for building, encompasses the entire two counties. We want to make sure we're always offering home locations near where families have their children at school and where they work. So we have four communities that we developed. We have several under construction right now. North Fort Myers, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs. But we also have scattered sites in Cape Coral, Lehigh, all the way out to La Belle and to Clewiston. So we want to have an entire scope, of of addresses that cover the geography just to meet everyone's needs. And you, you said you build, on average, one a week is going up. Yes. And you have the construction as well. The the plans that they're all contained within your organization. Can you talk to me about you mentioned in North Fort Myers and you prefabricated the homes? Yes. Tell me about this. So? So we do build all of our own homes, and they are funded through the generosity of the community and built by the volunteers, as well as the families who will be purchasing them. So we are always in need of volunteers to help us build. But we have a prefabrication facility in North Fort Myers, and we prefabricated all of the interior and exterior walls of our homes so we can put a package together. We have nine different floor plans, and we bring them out to our location on the slab. Volunteers get together, and we can raise all the interior and exterior walls of a home in one morning. Well, you mentioned that you had. I think there's two dedications this morning in Fort Myers. True. What is the dedication about? Yes. So whenever we finish a home which on average, we finish at least one home a week. We gather everyone together, the entire community. That was part of making that home possible. And we we bless the home together as a faith based organization. And then we also hand symbolic keys to the family. And that's signifying what they've been able to achieve in this program. That is so exciting. And you also said there's wall raising. Yes. Wall raising is going on. Yeah. What is that? So when we bring out the wall package to a slab and volunteers raise the walls literally, that also happens almost every week. This year alone will be building 54 new homes. So that's on average, we complete a home and we finish a home every week. Now, you have been with the organization, as we mentioned it, pushing 26 years. Yes. Why is this your passion? I love habitat for humanity for many reasons, but mostly because it is not a giveaway program. It is a true partnership. Habitat for humanity creates the opportunity to become a homeowner. But families partner with us so that they can take advantage of that opportunity. And in doing so, they're part of their own solution. We never want families who come to habitat for help to feel like they're recipients of charity. Because it is a partnership. We're just helping them to achieve what they're working so hard to achieve. And just last fall, we celebrated so many families that have been able to pay off their homes. It's a model that works. I think it was 40 families got together and we were able to celebrate their accomplishment of owning their homes outright. Over 400 families in this area have paid off their habitat homes. And today we have built 1950 homes in this area. Almost 2000 said in the next 12 months, I think you'll you'll hit that 2000 mark. This is only possible because of donors, grants and volunteers. If someone is interested in in helping, what would you recommend? Yes. So in our mission, it actually says that we bring people together to build homes, communities and hope. And we need everyone. This is not a solution that habitat for humanity owns. This is an entire community endeavor. And so anyone can go on our website, they can register to volunteer, they can donate or if they know someone that's in need of housing, tell them to go to the website. All the information is there. Thank you so much. It's this great information and it's so uplifting to hear, especially about the 400 homes that are paid off, these families that now have their own home that's paid for. That's amazing. Especially in this economy. Thank you. So much. Becky Lucas, for joining us today. Thank you.