Rising housing costs are pricing much of Collier County’s population out

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – The housing market heating up isn’t a positive step forward for everyone.

There are tens of thousands of residents being left behind because they can’t afford housing. Now, county leaders are stepping in to try and help.

Collier County Commissioners held an affordable housing workshop on Tuesday. It showed that many people from the working class to the elderly are affected by increasing housing costs.

Mac Watts is one of those people. He’s been living at St. Matthew’s House for the past six months to help him get back on his feet after getting in trouble with the law.

“I lost my whole family in the situation I was in,” said Watts.

Watts just landed a new job in irrigation. He wants to find housing for him and his 6-year-old son, but it’s proving very difficult in Collier County.

“I’m looking to rent,” said Watts.

Watts’ situation is more common in affluent Naples than you might think. Numbers released at Tuesday’s affordable housing workshop show more than 30 percent of the population is either at the poverty level, or very close to poverty.  That’s almost 48,000 people. Now that the housing market is heating up, this population is priced out.

“The rental market follows the sale market,” said Vann Ellison, CEO of St. Matthew’s House. “If the price of housing sales go up then the rental inventory shrinks and so somebody else trying to get in who is a working force person really struggles to get housing.”

Collier Commissioners along with county housing experts are trying to put together a plan that will most likely center around increasing affordable rental housing units in the county.  They wouldn’t only be for working families, but also for the elderly.

“While its extremely important to focus on workforce housing, with a significant amount of the population being the elderly we can’t ignore their needs with respect to affordable housing,” said Collier County Commissioner Georgia Hiller.

Staff hopes to have new proposals that would help incentivize builders by this summer.