New Construction moves to Sumter County
LEESBURG — High impact fees in the county have made it impossible for Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter to continue building new homes in Lake in the coming years for those in need of affordable housing, officials say.
As a result, the Habitat’s board of directors made a decision to move all of its new construction to Sumter County after it completes the estimated 15 homes it has scheduled to be built in Lake in the next 18 to 24 months.
“It goes back to the fact that the impact fees in Lake County are more than 20 percent of the cost of an affordable house,” said Kent Adcock, Habitat’s president and chief executive officer. “So when you factor 20 percent of the cost of the house, it does not include the cost of the land. You may be talking 30 to 40 percent of the cost of the house is not even in the construction of the house. This calculation disproportionately affects the working poor who desperately need an affordable place to live.”
Adcock said the organization is building homes for two families: one in Sumter County for an individual who has a disabled son to care for, and another in Lake County for a government worker whose family is unable to all live under the same roof because of high rental costs.