ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Before the coronavirus pandemic, a study by the Orlando Economic Partnership showed 1,500 people were moving to Central Florida each week with 1,000 residents moving to Orange County.
News 6 has featured stories in the past about an adoptive father crammed in a two-bedroom condo with four children and the struggle to find an apartment for less than $1,000 a month. News 6 also reported stories about how the region is tackling the affordable housing issue and the projects underway to make more housing available at a reasonable price.
We were “firing on all cylinders,” as said by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who added the pandemic didn’t stop people from moving here.
“I don’t think it stopped them at all,” Demings said. “We opened at a much faster pace than many of the metropolitan areas. We are continuing to grow, we are one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas here in the state of Florida.”
That growth has put pressure on an already tough housing market, the Orlando Realtor Association said housing supply is at an all-time low while the median cost of a house is at a historic high, at $300,000, up 15% since May 2020.
News 6 is committed to highlighting these problems and finding solutions weekly.
“By 2050, it’s projected we will have another 700,000 people here within our county, which would put us over 2 million residents within the next 30 years, that means we are growing, we have to prepare for that growth,” Demings added.
Now, for an upcoming episode of Solutionaries, we want to highlight the people or organizations who are fighting for change and working to solve the housing issues in the Orlando area.
To find those people, we’re asking for your help.
Fill out the short survey below, or click here if you can’t see it, to let us know who in the community is at the forefront of this issue. We also want to hear your take on the situation, how it’s affected you and what you think needs to change.