More than 300 families put in applications to buy one home in the city of Fort Myers. The city opened up a program for affordable housing on Monday, so many people applied causing the city to shut it down in a day and a half.
"It’s been very exciting, said Steven Belden, the Fort Myers community development director. "We have been working on this for probably a little over a year to initiate this Affordable Home Construction Program."
"Keep in mind one of the qualifications is at the time of application you have to be a city resident," said Mayor Kevin Anderson. "I’m guessing there’s going to probably be a significant percentage of those applications where people don’t actually live or reside within the incorporated limited of the city."
The city teamed up with a local builder Hard Hats Construction for the new first brand-new affordable home located at 2968 Lincoln Boulevard. It's a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, home that has a garage and a total of 1,804 square feet in size and will sell for $245,000. This location is one of the eight lots the city purchased to build affordable homes.
"Those people that applied, they will still be an opportunity for them, but we felt in order to keep it manageable at this point, just limit it to what we have for now," Belden said.
The overall goal is to eventually expand to 50 lots over the next several years. Anderson knows this will not solve the affordable housing issue, but it will help one family at a time.
"Hopefully, make even a small dent in this issue," Anderson said.
The city says applications will open back up once more houses become available.