ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Today, the St. Augustine City Commission is scheduled to meet and discuss affordable housing.
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That’s after a recent Northeast Florida Association of Realtors study named St. Johns County as the most expensive area to live in the region.
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Action News Jax spoke to locals and residents who say the price to buy a house cost way too much money.
A few locals and residents in the area pointed Action News Jax to two houses on Volusia Street. They are brand new and complete with designer tiling. They have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and many more amenities new homeowners seek. But they’re out of reach for most. Both homes are listed for $465,000 and that’s after $10k was knocked off the original price.
The kicker is that the pricey homes are right across the street from an affordable housing community.
“The prices of houses have fluctuated really bad, and people are leaving,” Scott said.
Walter Scott lives in a St. Augustine affordable housing community. They were built by Habitat for Humanity.
According to the organization’s website, the Christian ministry and nonprofit organization works to help people like Walter find a decent and affordable place to live.
Read: Florida lawmakers pass controversial bill to regulate local governing landlords and tenants
“This is real, you know people have to live and eat and most of these people have low paying jobs. Restaurant jobs, service jobs,” Scott said.
That is the sentiment Scott says he wants to share with St. Augustine’s City Commission during Monday afternoon’s affordable housing meeting. City leaders want to hear from locals and residents about how the cost of living in St. Johns County is affecting them and how to make it better.
This after The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors dubbed St. Johns’ County the most expensive area to live in our region. The median price for a single-family home here costs $555,000, according to the group.
“You can’t live some place you can’t afford,” Scott said.
Scott says he pays about $600 a month to live in his 3 bed 2 bath home built by habitat -- before that he was struggling to pay $1,000 a month for a moldy 2 bed 1 bath trailer.
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Today’s affordable housing meeting with St. Augustine City Commissioners is set for this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. inside the Alcazar room in City Hall.
