A local nonprofit organization wants to make more Fort Myers homes affordable to buy. Residents of Ward 2, which is just outside downtown Fort Myers, heard a pitch Thursday night at the Riverside Community Center on why they should stop renting.
Ron McEwan with the Patricia Bottell Foundation started the conversation with some statistics. He said 78 percent of single-family residences in the 33916 community are rentals. And McEwan said it was not like this “back in the day.”
“That's part of the reason why we're having the problems that we do here, as far as the crimes and stuff like that, because of that falling away of the concept of the family, friends, and community,” he said.
The foundation is turning condemned houses and vacant lots in the area into affordable homes for locals to buy.
Carl Baxter is a home owner in Ward 2 and has lived there more than a decade. He said he’d like to see more home owners in his neighborhood.
“The problem with the rental here... is that we have some rentals who they don’t take care of the property-- just really have absentee owners," said Baxter. "It really brings violence in the area.”
But Amy Cook disagreed. She’s lived in a rental duplex for about eight months. Cook said even though she rents, she cares about her community just like a homeowner.
“I care about whether or not the street is safe for me to walk on, whether or not the garbage is getting picked up, or the police are patrolling the area just as much as they do,” she said.
Cook said she’s not ready to buy a home yet, but she does think about it occasionally. And if she changes her mind, the Patricia Bottell Foundation is developing seven properties for sale right now.
