Affordable Housing

A second rent-free house, the Malthouse-Pilot Scholarship House, has been formally dedicated in FGCU’s North Lake Village.The house stands alongside the Gresham-Kite Pilot Scholarship House, which opened in 2003. Both have the capacity to house 17 students each, and were built by the Southern Scholarship Foundation, an organization devoted to providing rent-free housing for Florida students.

Millions of Americans, especially people of color, are facing painful decisions as a record number struggle with unaffordable rent increases, a crisis fueled by rising prices from inflation, a shortage of affordable housing and the end of pandemic relief.

Eileen Connolly-Keesler has served as the President-CEO of the Collier County Community Foundation for the past 11 years. Southwest Florida Business Today publisher Karen Moore recently heard her speak to a group of Naples area business owners and professionals about the lack of affordable housing in the county.

The Lee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved several items including nearly $5.4 million in State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) grant agreements to local partners for affordable housing as well as a the widening of Corkscrew Road from Bella Terra Boulevard to Alico Road and a LeeTran Park and Ride transfer station in Lehigh Acres.

A new partnership aimed at tackling affordable housing in Collier County has formed between two Collier nonprofits.The Housing Alliance, created by organizers from the Collier County Community Land Trust and Community Foundation of Collier County, aims to be a “community hub” for information, education, and resources surrounding affordable housing in Collier.

A new apartment complex being built in Collier County will offer 30 percent of its units at below market rates — what could be good news for essential workers like law enforcement officers and teachers who have struggled for years to find rentals they can afford in Collier County.

Naples photographer Michelle Tricca is working to alter the perception of Immokalee, Florida with larger-than-life murals. “The Face of Immokalee” is an effort to honor, humanize and put a face to the people of the predominantly agricultural community.

Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties, in partnership with Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, held a ceremony in Fort Myers Tuesday to welcome Christie Sowell and her family to their new four-bedroom home. Sowell's home was the firtst completed in the 6-acre Habitat HOA community situated between McCormick St. and Prospect Ave. that will eventually feature 29 single-family homes once completed.

A community-wide survey to gather information on what Southwest Floridians found to be the most pressing need identified affordable housing and homelessness as the top concerns.