The Healthy Housing Foundation Powered by AHF, in partnership with an array of community stakeholders including the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, United Way of Broward County, Urban League of Broward County, Mount Olive Development Corporation, have joined forces to collaborate on innovatively addressing the housing crisis in Ft. Lauderdale. Through the development of a residential campus with affordable housing options for low-income and other residents, the collaborative initiative, led by Healthy Housing Foundation, is proactively addressing the housing affordability crisis currently impacting thousands of Broward residents.
“Given the dire need to address the affordable housing crisis that confronts Broward County, I am so pleased that so many local community leaders and elected officials have joined forces with the Healthy Housing Foundation to support this development that will truly shift the trajectory for so many of those in need,” stated Michael Kahane, AHF Southern Bureau Chief. “This collaborative and innovative approach to addressing the affordable housing crisis, that we are launching in Broward County, will assuredly be an example and set the frame-work for other communities across the U.S. to take on leadership around this issue.”
The Healthy Housing Foundation Ft. Lauderdale low-income and affordable housing residential development campus is the fourth affordable housing residential development launched this year by Healthy Housing Foundation, a new program of AHF to specifically address the housing needs of low-income, and chronically ill individuals and families with a focus on sustainable SRO and rental-to-ownership models.
Current statistics indicate that 789,000[1] Floridians spend more than half of their income on rent each month.
Earlier in 2018, HHF opened the doors to a 27-room temporary housing facility re-christened the Sunrise on Sunset(SOS), the renovated 220-room Madison Hotel on Skid Row, and the historic 150-room King Edward Hotel in the Los Angeles community.
Through the development of local community collaborations and innovative approaches to combating the affordable housing epidemic plaguing communities across the nation, Healthy Housing Foundation will continue to demonstrate that our most vulnerable citizens—those who are at extremely low and very low-income levels—can be helped or placed into clean and safe housing without the lengthy delays, the extreme scarcity of—and the outrageously high costs—that have become the accepted standard for ‘affordable’ housing.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which began as the AIDS Hospice Foundation, has a long history of providing and advocating for secure and affordable housing for the chronically ill. From starting out as a place for people to die with dignity to the 2011 efforts to preserve ADAP-based housing for Miami, AHF has been working to address the housing needs of the chronically ill for 30 years.
For addressing the housing affordability crisis, AHF carries out a multi-pronged, community-based approach known as the “3 Ps”:
- Protect tenants: prevent gentrification and homelessness by keeping rents under control and discouraging evictions;
- Preserve communities: support progressive, sustainable land-use policies that maintain neighborhood integrity and allow working- and middle-class families to stay in their communities;
- Produce housing: Produce truly affordable housing through adaptive reuse and cost-effective new construction.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 924,000 individuals in 41 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe.
[1] Moreno, S. If you spend more than half of your income on rent, you’re not alone. Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/real-estate/article197192829.html