Local leaders and a housing nonprofit are celebrating the start of development of The Village of Pine Hills, a three building, three story complex on 5121 North Pine Hills Road bringing nearly 100 new affordable housing units. The overall cost for the new development is around $35.7 million.
The 96 apartment homes are being built by Ability Housing, a nonprofit organization focused on building affordable housing across the state.
Ability Housing’s CEO Reggie Fullwood said residents will also have access to wraparound services, something he says is as crucial to the development itself.
‘We will have case management services,” Fullwood said. “We will have folks on site here helping with everything from behavior health issues, healthcare access, workforce development issues, GED training. We will have folks on site to help make the connections for our residents.”
Data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition states there are only13 affordable housing units in Orlando for every 100 extremely low-income families.
The City of Orlando expedited some of the permitting for the project, waived impact fees and is providing $500,000 for transportation. The partnership and funding is from Orlando Unlocked Initiative, the city’s commitment to ensuring residents have quality housing.
“Our team is continuing to develop partnerships to expand our housing inventory, and we have a program called Orlando Unlocked, and the idea is to remove barriers to allow housing to proceed at all levels,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. “We've modernized our zoning, streamlined approvals, and we're offering incentives like waiving impact fees..”
According to the City of Orlando, between 2020 and 2024,Orlando’s population grew 14%. However, housing only increased by 11%. That difference led to a shortage in the area of around 9,400 units.
Construction for the Village of Pine Hills is expected to take almost two years, but the goal is to start leasing activity in about a year.
Orange County plans to allocate $1.25 million for the units through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Orange County Mayor Demmings said the county is committed to helping solve the affordability crisis that residents are facing.
“We want to continue to do that by working collaboratively with all of our local partners, and so with Ability Housing, keep doing what you're doing,” he said. “Keep moving the needle.”
