Manatee County leaders were presented a plan on Tuesday to help bring more affordable housing to the area.
Geri Lopez is the Director of Redevelopment for Manatee County. She wants to entice developers to build affordable housing by offering some developers hundreds of thousands in discounts. Manatee County would help cover a project's impact and utility fees if the units are considered affordable.
"Sometimes those fees can be over a million dollars so this concept would help entice them to build affordable housing," said Lopez.
She said there is new construction happening in Manatee County, but the emphasis seems to be more on high-end housing.
"There is a need for affordable workforce housing," said Lopez.
Rodney Jones works at an affordable housing complex called Bradenton Village. He said there is a big need for more affordable rental properties.
"Just to get into Bradenton Village is six months to a year, to get into the housing authority programs you are talking about years," said Jones.
The Manatee County Commission still needs to approve the plan, Lopez hopes to get approval by this summer.
