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Julie Graham of West Palm Beach pounds nails in a home under construction earlier this month at Trail Ridge, a new development of Habitat for Humanity homes in East Naples. Graham, on spring break from Florida State University, was a volunteer for the day with Habitat. She was working with her mom and aunt, both residents of Naples. Some area affordable housing developments have sparked controversy when neighboring communities didn't want them nearby.
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Construction workers stand atop a house in the Hawthorne community in Bonita Springs. When plans originally were drawn up for the 500-unit development, prices were estimated between $200,000 and $300,000. Now, the least expensive model is estimated to cost $372,000.
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Jared DeAngelo stands on Airport-Pulling Road trying to draw the attention of drivers to Laguna Bay, a new condominium complex with units for sale in North Naples. Laguna Bay used to be Fountain View Apartments, but was recently converted to condominiums. Prices start in the low $200,000s in a market where more than 4,000 apartments have been turned into condominiums in the past two years.
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Rebeca Mendoza, right, greets her husband, Jose, after he arrives home from work at the couple’s home in the Pueblo Bonito community in Bonita Springs. The couple says that life has been much easier since moving into the low-income neighborhood three years ago. Before settling in Bonita Springs, the couple previously lived in Naples and Las Vegas.
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Helena Ramos, a clinical technician at Naples Community Hospital, checks the vital signs of a patient. Ramos resided in Golden Gate in a room, but will be moving to Bayshore Drive in East Naples to Botanical Place, a complex with affordable housing units.
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The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Botanical Place condominium project was held in early March. The East Naples development features affordable housing units in some of the residences. The new complex opened April 10.
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Orlin “Chick” Davis, of North Naples, a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, works on a home at Trail Ridge in East Naples earlier this month. Some people don’t realize that affordable housing isn’t synonymous with slums, housing advocates say.
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Collier Commissioner Donna Fiala looks over a map of the county after a tour of what she considers affordable housing in her East Naples county commission district. Very few of the units she checked were on county government’s list of affordable housing areas.
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Kasey Reavis and her daughter, Brook, 3, play outside on a recent afternoon. Reavis plans to sell her house on 31st Place Southwest in Golden Gate and move to Georgia, but is having a difficult time finding a buyer for her home. She bought the house in 2003 for $150,000 and put it up for sale at $299,900. No buyer has shown an interest since she put it on the market a month ago.
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Kasey Reavis and her daughter, Brook, try to find the 3-year-old’s newly hatched sea monkeys, which are the size of dust particles and suspended in a miniature aquarium. Reavis is one of many would-be sellers in Collier County, where there is about an 18-month supply of houses and condominiums on the market.
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Business owner Joan Gerber goes over her calendar while talking on the phone inside her office in Bonita Springs. Gerber, who operates her own cleaning business in Southwest Florida, believes the high cost of living makes it difficult for low-income workers to find affordable places to live, even though there are plenty of job opportunities in the area.
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