FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chris Berry, Lee County Commission District #5
               (239) 335-2225

COMMISSIONER ALBION TO SPEAK AT AFFORDABLE HOUSING
SUMMIT IN SARASOTA

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 23, 2003) - Lee County Commissioner John Albion will speak about the public costs of a lack of affordable housing at a May 2 Housing Summit in Sarasota.

The Sarasota Office of Housing and Community Development will hold its Third Annual Housing Summit in the Waterside room at 216 Sarasota Quay in Sarasota on Friday, May 2nd, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The annual event is designed to strengthen affordable housing partnerships by bringing together providers of affordable housing to openly discuss housing and community development issues and strategies. City and county elected officials, local government employees, affordable housing advocates, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and special needs advocates are among those expected to attend.

The theme of this year's summit is "Solutions and Impediments to Affordable Housing."

Commissioner Albion chaired a 2002 study by the Lee County Affordable Housing Committee to determine the overall costs of inadequate affordable housing. The study focused not just on families burdened by a lack of affordable housing, but also examined losses due to missed economic development opportunities and overburdened infrastructure. Among the studies key findings:

1. There is inadequate affordable housing in Lee County, Florida.
Ample research supports the finding that Lee County does not have enough housing that is affordable to families living at or below 80% Area Median Income.

2. The need for more affordable housing costs Lee County citizenry over $249 million annually and is expected to rise with growing unmet need.
The study calculates the public costs associated with inadequate housing in three sectors of the community: lost economic opportunity, transportation infrastructure, and the direct and indirect social costs related to education and health care.

3. Lee County needs to initiate an aggressive affordable housing development strategy.
Currently in Lee County, an average of 1,000 single-family units valued at $120,000 or less are built each year. This number would have to be doubled to 2,000 units the first year, and then assume a 12-percent increase in housing production each year following to meet the community's need for 30,000 owner-occupied affordable housing units by the year 2010.

Registration for the Housing Summit is $25 dollars per person, and the event is open to the public. Attendees may register through the Sarasota Office of Housing and Community Development, or on site at the Waterside room at 8:30 a.m. on May 2nd. For more information, contact Debra Caputo at 941-316-1070.