Low wages, high rent: Orlando has a problem
Orlando will soon have a new community down near Disney — the Four Seasons Private Residences — where home prices start around $5 million. Bully for all our new neighbors ... and the $24,514 in homeowner’s association fees they’ll pay each year. Ironically, though, many of the people who already live here — the ones who work full-time in the tourist industry that attracts the Four Seasons folks — can’t afford homes of their own. Heck, they can’t even cover the HOA dues. Central Florida , you see, is in the midst of an all-out housing crisis . Our affordable- housing shortage is so severe that the National Low Income Housing Coalition recently found just 18 rental units available for every 100 low- income families — one of the lowest rates in America. As a result, we have families living in cheap motels and relying on government subsidies. And with rents rising, it’s only getting worse. This isn’t exactly the kind of thing our chambers of commerce or visitors bureaus like to promo...