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Lack of affordable housing has deadly consequences
Three tornadoes lashed through central Florida in the early morning hours on February 2, killing 20 people. Separate twisters touched down between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. local time, the first in the rural community of Lady Lake, killing six people, and a few minutes later a second one swept through the small town of Paisley, claiming another 13 lives. Most of the victims were asleep and unaware of any impending danger. It is estimated that over 1,500 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged and that the cost of the storms will exceed $100 million.
Not surprisingly, the most severe devastation took place in the mobile home parks, which have continued to thrive in Florida due to the shortage of affordable housing combined with stagnating wages for working families. While the central Florida median household income has risen 16 percent since 2000, the median existing-home sales price has increased 138 percent. Census data from the year 2000 showed that 10 percent of Floridians, over 1 million residents, live in manufactured homes.
The recent “housing boom” has only accelerated this trend as many prospective home buyers are being squeezed out of the market by skyrocketing real estate prices. The median home sale price in Orange County (Orlando area), just south of where the tornadoes struck, was just under $260,000 in March 2006. According to Florida Home Loans, a private mortgage lender that publishes data on housing market trends, there was a more than 50 percent increase in the average market sale price for all homes in the state of Florida between June 2004 and June 2006.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/flor-f10.shtml
The recent “housing boom” has only accelerated this trend as many prospective home buyers are being squeezed out of the market by skyrocketing real estate prices. The median home sale price in Orange County (Orlando area), just south of where the tornadoes struck, was just under $260,000 in March 2006. According to Florida Home Loans, a private mortgage lender that publishes data on housing market trends, there was a more than 50 percent increase in the average market sale price for all homes in the state of Florida between June 2004 and June 2006.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/flor-f10.shtml
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