$5M affordable unit project set to open within the year
Photo/Ken Jackson
Osceola County officials celebrated the groundbreaking of Las Margaritas, a new affordable senior housing development in Buenaventura Lakes designed to address the issue of safe, reasonably-priced housing for those who may be on fixed incomes.
And, with Buen Vecino, another senior-living affordable housing complex set to officially open later this year just a few miles away, the projects in Commissioner Viviana Janer’s District 2 are tackling one of the county’s most critical issues.
The project of nine one-bedroom units will be built on a three-quarter acre parcel near the intersection of Buenaventura Boulevard and Simpson Road. The county is funding the $5 million price tag out of its general fund, with help with an $850,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development funds.
“We’ve packed a lot into a small space,” Janer said Thursday. “Housing is about more than buildings—it’s about peace of mind. Sometimes the most meaningful things we build are the ones that quietly improve people’s everyday lives.”
Anticipating the build to be completed later this year, the county said the units will be available for residents who are 62 years of age or older who have income that equals 60 percent or less of the area median income. The County’s Housing and Community Services Department will open the application process later this summer.
“’Las Margaritas’ translates to daisies in Spanish, and they represent new beginnings, which is so appropriate today. This is going to be a place where seniors feel at home, not overlooked and part of a community designed with them in mind.”
Rev. Mary Downey, who leads Hope Partnership, a nonprofi t that works to provide all residents with a safe place to call home, said seniors represent the fastest growing group of homeless in the country. While the finished Las Margaritas units will likely be snapped up quickly, she said the county is taking an important step in building the complex.
“It may be a drop in the bucket, but those drops are important, as eventually the budget will get filled if we keep working as a community,” she said. “Projects like this are incredibly important.”
