Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers receives nearly $37 million in funding from Lee County
The Floridant/10287562

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Floridant -- The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers (HACFM) has received nearly $37 million in funding from Lee County through the CDBG-DR (Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery) fund. The $36,530,877 in funds will support two of the HACFM's affordable housing projects: Phase II of Southward Village and Lafayette Square.

Lee County awarded a total of $18,875,000 to support HACFM's efforts to complete Phase II of revitalization at the existing Southward Village community in Dunbar. The project is part of the Greater Dunbar Initiative, which will ultimately create at least 465 mixed-income units across Southward Village and an additional site on Cleveland Avenue to meet the growing needs of the community.

The large-scale revitalization of Southward Village is part of a comprehensive transformation plan that aims to improve existing affordable housing units for residents while expanding choices, creating market-rate amenities and adding new mixed-income housing to create a resilient and healthy neighborhood. Phase II of the project will include efforts to construct 151 units of 375 total residential units at the Southward Village site. Construction will begin in the first quarter of 2025.

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Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation, the nonprofit development arm of HACFM, also received $17,655,877 in funding to support the development of a new senior-focused affordable housing community, Lafayette Square. The 80-unit senior housing residence will serve low-income seniors ages 62 and up.

The new Lafayette Square development will offer modern amenities to help residents age in place, including an on-site gym, a small health clinic, business center, movie theater and more. Additionally, the property will be designed to include unique safety features such as a designated hurricane shelter built to host residents and an additional 40 senior care adults in the event of future storms.

Lafayette Square will enable HACFM to provide modernized senior housing options to replace Royal Palm Towers, a 60-year-old infrastructure in downtown Fort Myers that sustained significant damage during Hurricane Ian. The new housing site will be located off Lafayette Street in Fort Myers with construction anticipated to begin in spring 2025.

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Awarded during the Lee Board of County Commissioners meeting on Nov. 5, the CDBG-DR funds are part of $1.1 billion that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated to Lee County to help address unmet needs as a result of Hurricane Ian.

To learn more, visit HACFM.org (https://www.hacfm.org/) or call 239-344-3220.