There is a major resort area that attracts tourist visitors from around the world. It features a glittering and ever-expanding array of real estate options that cater to the tourist crowd, from high-end hotels to huge furnished homes available for nightly rentals.
But the area is facing an ever-deepening housing crisis. There simply are nowhere near enough available housing units priced at a level that the employees that are crucial to the tourist industry can afford to live in. The issue is endlessly discussed, but there is no clear answer anywhere in sight.
We are not talking about the issues facing the Park City community but the somewhat similar but also very different issues facing the community adjacent to Disney World in Florida. Today we are going to explore the extent of and reasons for the affordable housing crisis in central Florida.
Our tour guide this morning is NYU professor Andrew Ross, author of the new book Sunbelt Blues: The Failure of American Housing. The book marks a return for Professor Ross to the subject of housing in Central Florida having previously resided in and written about Celebration, the planned community originally backed by Disney but now owned by a Wall Street investment manager.