Fort Myers plans more affordable housing in 2021

The City of Fort Myers is considering creating more affordable housing to help you make ends meet.

The developer wants to begin construction in Feburary. The 140 townhomes will be built on the corner of Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard and Edison Avenue.

To help fund the $28 million project, the city’s community redevelopment agency is looking at a tax increment rebate for around $5 million. With many people out of a job and the homeless population growing in Fort Myers, nonprofits and local leaders say now is the time to fix the problem.

“Based on the market rate, to afford a two-bedroom home in Lee County the family would need to make over $47,000 a year with total combined income and currently our medium renter wage for Lee County residents is just over 30,000,” said Alex Wilson, public relations manager for Habitat for Humanity. “So there’s a lot of people who don’t make enough to afford what the market value rent is here in Lee County.”

Every year, Habitat for Humanity builds dozens of affordable homes for families in need.
This year, their goal was 55.