Housing

Is local government incentivized by increased housing costs?

(📸: giphy) Our last reader-submitted question in our series about the current housing crisis in Central Florida is about property taxes and how they incentivize local government.  It comes from Kelsey K. who asked: “Does the city/county have a perverse incentive to allow housing costs to go up? Local governments receive the majority of their […]

/ November 27, 2019

Could strip malls be a solution to Orlando’s housing crisis?

(📸: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay) Mark Brewer, CEO and President of Central Florida Foundation says turning old strip malls into housing could be one of many solutions needed to address our lack of affordable housing in Central Florida, but the practice comes with a lot of challenges. It’s a question our reader M. Adkins […]

/ November 20, 2019

The case for co-housing

(📸: @giphy) The first question in the third month of our deep dive into Central Florida’s affordable housing crisis comes from Kayla Mitchell, who asks, “Do you think co-housing could be a solution?” The tl;dr or short answer is no, co-housing is not a solution to affordable housing but it IS a possible solution to […]

/ November 5, 2019

Why do state legislators raid the Sadowski Fund?

“Why do our state legislators continue to raid the Sadowski state housing trust fund — a fund set-up and dedicated to affordable housing?” That’s the most recent question we’ve received from a reader as part of our series spotlighting our affordable housing crisis and the region’s quest to provide attainable housing for all. Thanks to […]

/ September 17, 2019

Can we lower taxes on non-homestead properties?

(📸: @giphy) We’ve been digging into reader questions for our series on Central Florida’s affordable housing crisis, and the region’s quest to provide equal and attainable housing for all. So far, we’ve learned a lot about accessory dwelling units from Ashley Z’s question and the integral part they play in addressing our housing crisis. Next up, we’re […]

/ September 5, 2019

All the things you didn’t know you wanted to know about ADUs in Central Florida

(📸: @giphy) Our readers sent in some great questions about our affordable housing crisis in Central Florida and the region’s quest to provide attainable housing for all. Over the summer, we’ll be digging into each of them.  We’re starting with reader Ashley Z.’s question about accessory dwelling units.  “How could one go about living in […]

/ August 16, 2019

Neighborhood Spotlight on Parramore

Parramore is one of Orlando’s oldest, historically black neighborhoods. It’s got history, good food, community and culture. Parramore is also home to our biggest sporting venues, both Amway Arena and Orlando City Soccer Stadium and will soon house the new Creative Village and the UCF Downtown and Valencia campuses. To say it’s changing rapidly is […]

/ May 7, 2019

Here’s what you wanted to know about Parramore and the Central Florida Regional Housing Trust

📸: pulptown So far this month, we’ve introduced you to Page 15, a non-profit focused on literacy amongst neighborhood children, recommended the cornbread and collards at Nikki’s Place, and shared a 72-year Parramore staple, Palmer Feed where locals can purchase live animals, gardening and other farming necessities. We then asked you what you wanted to […]

/ May 7, 2019

This developer is upping Orlando’s street cred, one street at a time

MEET THIS CHANGEMAKER: Craig Ustler, president of the Ustler Development Group, is best known for transforming Thornton Park into a desirable and walkable neighborhood throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s. He’s been heavily involved in developing The City Beautiful since graduating from the University of Florida in 1991. His development philosophy has been to focus […]

/ April 2, 2019

The rent is too dang high in Orlando

📸: pulptown Nothing makes a term like “affordable housing” go from wonky to real world quite like getting a rent-increase notice in the mail. That’s what happened to reader Alison Rivera, who wrote this in response to our recent call-out asking for your questions about housing in Orlando: “How will they fix this? I just […]

/ January 22, 2019