{"id":46725,"date":"2025-11-14T18:04:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46725\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:04:24","slug":"affordable-housing-a-concern-for-florida-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46725\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordable housing a concern for Florida residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A new study<\/a> from Florida Atlantic University reveals nearly half of Floridians surveyed would consider leaving the state, citing the high cost of living and quality of life concerns as major factors.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

A new Florida Atlantic University study<\/a> shows nearly 50% of Floridians surveyed are considering moving out of the state.
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Housing costs, insurance rates, and the overall cost of living are the top concerns driving frustration.
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Housing advocates say more development is needed to bring prices down.
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Despite challenges, more than half of Floridians still believe in the American dream.<\/p>\n

Researchers say the results underscore growing frustration over housing prices, rising insurance rates and everyday expenses that continue to climb.<\/p>\n

Matthew Grocholske has been feeling that frustration firsthand while searching for an apartment in Central Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been searching for apartments all day. I\u2019ll be looking at more tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Grocholske said prices have risen sharply in just the past year. \u201cPrices have gone way up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping to find something soon \u2014 but says most listings are out of reach for average renters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more actually affordable housing,\u201d Grocholske said. \u201cNot just unattainable housing that is very, very expensive in our neck of the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study,\u00a0led by Assistant Director for Business and Economic Initiative Eric Levy, surveyed 1,000 adults across the state.<\/p>\n

About 37% held a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher, and nearly half earned below $75,000 per year.<\/p>\n

Levy said the findings were eye-opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is a shocking number,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s not what we set out to find. Is that what we thought we would find?\u201d<\/p>\n

Levy said inflation, housing and health care topped the list of concerns for most respondents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose numbers are high \u2014 89%, 80%, 83% \u2014 so those are seriously weighing on the minds of Floridians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Housing advocates like Eric Grimmer, a member of Orlando YIMBY<\/a> \u2014 which stands for \u201cYes In My Backyard\u201d \u2014 say those concerns are no surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons people come to Florida, at least traditionally, you think about it\u2019s been cheaper to live here,\u201d Grimmer said. \u201cAnd that used to be true, but it\u2019s no longer true here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimmer believes the solution lies in allowing more housing construction around growing cities like Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to provide the kind of environment that will allow new housing to be built and keep those costs either where they are or preferably lower them even more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Levy says the survey showed a glimmer of optimism among Floridians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out that 53% of Floridians are still believing in the American dream, still think it\u2019s alive and well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Grocholske, that dream includes finding a place to call home \u2014 one that doesn\u2019t cost more than he can afford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A new study from Florida Atlantic University reveals nearly half of Floridians surveyed would consider leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,28,115,139,141,140,11881,135,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-46725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-randy-rauch","15":"tag-tampa","16":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}