With higher inflation impacting everything from gas to housing, it’s no surprise some companies want to offer some reprieve to families during this time.
One way help may be on the way locally is in the form of new affordable housing.
A California based company, plans to convert two older, local hotels into affordable apartments to help alleviate the housing shortage. One location will be at 4156 W. Vine St., Kissimmee, formerly a Baymont by Wyndham hotel on the west side of Hoagland Boulevard.
Orlando has ranked among the worst metropolitan city in the nation for affordable housing in a Affordable Housing Gap Analysis done each year by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In the 2022 Gap Analysis, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area tied for third most severe in shortage of affordable rental homes at just 18 affordable and available rental homes per 100 renter households.
Among the extremely low-income renter households in Florida, 80% suffer from severe cost burden, meaning they are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions, NLIH data shows.
“We identified Kissimmee, Florida as a place that was in desperate need of good solid workforce housing, given the job centers there,” Vivo Living Vice President Charlie Heller said.
“We will have over 300 units on Vine Street to provide naturally affordable housing at an attractive rate but still offer class A amenities and really nice interior units,” Heller said.
Heller said that with higher inflation, and the direction the economy is heading right now, Vivo Living expects demand to continue to rise for its units. He said they hope to have close to a finished product available somewhere between the next six to 15 months.
The Rev. Mary Downey, CEO of the Hope Partnership, a non-profit centered on aiding those experiencing homelessness, said one local issue that has contributed to the housing crisis is the lack of units that the workforce can afford.
“As rents have skyrocketed in our area, we've seen a whole new population seeking services to try to keep their families housed,” Downey said.
Creating affordable units does seem to be a hopeful solution though, Downey said.
“We've seen in other communities that the best way to make an impact is large-scale investment in creating actually affordable units,” she said. “Motel renovations can be a quick and effective way to add more low-priced units when they are done well. We are currently working to purchase and renovate one of these properties here in Osceola County.
“We support any and all efforts to add affordable, dignified housing units in this community,” Downey said.
Adding to the housing supply is a proven method for lowering costs, she said.
“Right now, the demand for housing and costs of construction are so high that traditional developers can't afford to build units that are actually affordable to our workforce,” Downey said.
“It's so much faster to renovate a building than to start from scratch.”
Vivo’s business model of converting old hotels into units for rent allows the apartments to cost approximately 10% to 20% less than the current market, without compromising on amenities. And it does so without adding emissions that can come from ground-up construction.
“I think with our business plan we’re able to get units much quicker into the system,” Heller said. “Building 129 units from ground up would take three or four years, and with higher construction costs. So, we're able to buy these hotels, convert the apartment units into living spaces in a short amount of time.”
Heller said Vivo Living has already received a lot of interest in its first project, and though it is not open yet, he does expect a “quick lease up.” More information on renting there will be available when the property is closer to opening.
“We're really proud of the fact that we're able to offer naturally affordable housing in Osceola County,” Heller said, “and really excited about this project and believe that will be a great success for not just us but the community as well.”
