Former crime-ridden Orlando hotel turned into affordable housing
A formerly crime-ridden motel is getting another round of a facelift.
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The Ambassador Hotel in West Orlando is now home to people who said they could not afford anywhere else in the city. It was sold for $7.5 million and a $15 million project.
It’s a public-private partnership with one-stop housing.
Melissa Montgomery said this was her saving grace, as the Palms Gardens Orlando Apartments is all they can afford.
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When they move into newly remodeled units, their rent will increase by $100.
Channel 9 toured the new 150 affordable housing units coming to the complex.
The city said 149 are reserved for people making less than 80% of the area’s median income.
“The city mandates us to stay within those thresholds,” said Mark Vengroff from One Stop Housing, LLC.
People living at the apartments wanted to know how their housing is protected.
Channel 9 asked Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the city housing director about the safeguards they implemented.
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“It’s always a dilemma that the rents can rise faster than the incomes do,” said Oren Henry Director of Housing in Orlando.
“With the city funding, there’s 30-year affordability requirements,” Dyer said.
Neither were able to give specifics on what those requirements or safeguards are.
The city funded just over $4 million for the renovations of the apartments.
Fifteen of the units are set aside for permanent housing for people who are homeless. When it comes to rent, there are annual rates set by income limits made by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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