City staff and new homeowners celebrated the completion of new affordable houses on A Street in the northwest neighborhood. The latest round of houses is through a partnership with nonprofit, Keystone Challenge Fund.
“We’ve completed 16 affordable homes in 15 months through nonprofit and private partnerships. Eleven new houses and five refurbished,” said City Manager James Slaton.
The City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) partners with SouthState Bank to offer financial assistance. $170,000 has been awarded to qualified first-time homebuyers - $80,000 by the CRA and $90,000 by SouthState Bank.
Eight additional houses are in development, nine in predevelopment and eight in the planning stage.
The CRA’s Developer Incentive Program has attracted a lot of attention. All impact fees including water and sewer have been waived to private developers building affordable houses in the city’s core improvement area.
“This incentive program is geared to help bring more affordable homes to the core of the city. It’s going to offer more opportunities to homebuyers,” Slaton added.
The Developer Incentive Program requires developers to sell houses to buyers at or below 120% area median income.
The affordable housing program aligns with the steps and goals included in the award-winning Lake Wales Connected Plan for the revitalization of the city’s downtown historic district and northwest neighborhood.
Homebuyers interested in qualifying may contact Hands of Central Florida at (407) 447-5686.