At the May 13th meeting, the Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board unanimously approved the construction of single-family speculative homes through the City of Tallahassee’s New Home Infill Program.
The CRA Board consists of the Mayor of Tallahassee and the four Tallahassee City Commissioners.
At the direction of the CRA Board, the New Home Infill Program was developed to help alleviate the shortage in availability of affordable housing and provide a pathway to home ownership for low- to moderate-income residents. With support from the Greater Frenchtown/Southside (GFS) Citizens Advisory Committee, the City and CRA Board designated six vacant parcels in the GFS District where homes can be built as part of the program.
“We know there’s a high demand for affordable housing in our community, and we want to get residents into new homes as quickly as possible. Moving forward with construction now helps us speed up the process and give residents an opportunity to see their future home before buying,” CRA Board Chair Dianne Williams-Cox said.
The CRA Board commissioned the design of house plans and facades that fit into the aesthetic of the established neighborhoods. It also approved Florida Developers and Tallahassee Lenders’ Consortium as pre-qualified contractors to build the homes. Six total designs have been approved from three architectural firms and include plans for two- and three-bedroom homes.
A budget of $885,000 has been allocated to the New Home Infill Program, and construction of the six speculative homes is expected to be completed by the end of this summer. Four homes will be built in Greater Bond and two homes will be built in Greater Frenchtown.
CRA Approves $885,000 for Construction of Affordable Single-Family Homes added by Staff on
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Pat clearly takes this issue to heart. I think we do need to put money into living spaces for families in need. However, precautions need to be taken to ensure those families are not using government funding to support bad habits of course.
@ LENA. Banks are free to load to whom they choose. And people are free to choose between renting and owning. But the Tax Payer shouldn’t be required to buy anyone a home. If you want a no money down loan, join the military for 4 years, get an Honorable Discharge, then use your VA benefits to get a no-money down mortgage. To infer the only difference between renting and owning is the difference between monthly rental costs and a mortgage payment reflects ignorance. I own and just spend $20,000.00 for new air conditioners, last year $18,000 to have the pool refurbished, before that $$$ for a new roof. Those are factors to be considered before buying. So the tax payer funds a new home for someone that cannot afford a mortgage and sooner or later, repairs will be needed. Should the tax payer pay for your new air conditioner? The time has come to make living on welfare less attractive than working. It is time for all people to take personal responsibility for their own plight in life. Welfare/Unemployment has become so good that businesses cannot find workers. If you cannot afford what you want, take a good look at the choices you made in the past.
Affordable housing means the banks should loan to people to make it possible to stop renting.
Everyone pays more in rent than with a mortgage for the very same property.
And another thing, how come liberals never spend any time and resources to correct poverty at the root cause? Look at being poor today: free to low cost housing with air conditioning, cable tv, free cell phones, and plenty of cash. Look at all the free stuff “poor” people get today. Maybe a little personal responsibility is in order here. If you are that poor, that you cannot support yourself, maybe you shouldn’t have children.
If you cannot afford a house you cannot afford a house. Keeping your home in livable condition isn’t cheap. And who will pay for furnishing the house? Home owner’s insurance, property taxes, it all adds up. And in those neighborhoods I doubt the re-sale value will be much. But that is why you decided to live inside the City limits so you could work hard to support those that don’t. It is obvious the CRA has no idea how building material has sky-rocketed. .
Based on the current manufactured and unsustainable increase in property values – not to mention the massive increase in building materials (like OSB) purchased from Canada via China (thanks to China’s Bro Dementia Joe)… at $147K per house, its hard to imagine what the quality of these homes will be.