HVAC system that resulted in exorbitant utility bills which they were having difficulty paying. At the end of their one year lease, they sought a better place to rent. However, when the new landlord they applied to attempted to charge them more than the federal rules would allow for their housing voucher, the housing authority had to refuse to approve the new lease. And we now find them homeless sleeping in their car, trying to find a new place where Mr. J and his wife can live and she can recover from the hip replacement surgery that's been postponed your as a result of not having safe housing to live in. My Cajun colleagues will now share with you some of what we've learned about the causes of this affordable rental housing shortage and how we see a new Trust Fund as an innovative way to make a much bigger dent in the problem than we've been able to make so far.
Thank you. Next is Robert Gibbs. And then Sylvia Jones.
Excellent. Your name and address for the record please. Thanks for coming.
Afternoon, my name is Robert Gibbs. I'm a retired United Methodist pastor and member at Trinity United Methodist Church. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Commission for addressing this very important issue. I live at 6340 Call cord and Tallahassee Schomburg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida documents that in 2020, there were over 13,500 families in Tallahassee with extremely low and very low incomes, who were paying more than half their income for housing. These are the people with whom Capitol area justice ministry is concerned our most vulnerable citizens. The Schomburg Center is 2022 rental market study reports a cumulative affordable rental housing deficit in Leon County as a whole of 21,663 units are extremely low and very low incomes, who are looking for housing they can afford. We've just heard that the staff now reports the 110 multifamily units for families with extremely low incomes been constructed over the past year or in the pipeline, exceeding Tallahassee his house, how's America pledge of 100 units, we celebrate the achievement and look forward to this new these new numbers, the numbers that exceed in what's been accomplished in the recent past. We also acknowledged this is a very small chip in a very huge challenge. And we look at the housing divisions website dashboard, we see a total of 200 multifamily units constructed or under development for families with very low as well as extremely low incomes. This would amount to 10% of the total multifamily units being constructed and in the pipeline. But they only address one and a half percent of the 13,500 families paying more than half their income or rental housing. The research conducted by Capitol area justice ministries, affordable housing strategy team over the past eight months is shaping a refined proposal for the Tallahassee very low income affordable rental housing trust fund, very low income, affordable rental housing trust fund. And we'll be bringing to you later and be talking about this as we reach our spring goal of reaching our community on this very, very important issue. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Our next speaker please.
Next is Sylvia Jones.
Thank you for joining us your name and address for the record please.
Good evening. Allow Rabbi Sylvia Jones, pastor of Ebenezer AME Church, co chair of the Capitol area justice ministries Affordable Housing Strategy Team, and I reside at four to five oh, Woodbridge Road in Tallahassee, Florida. Our research team has found that most developers choose to build multifamily rental housing set aside for families with low incomes rather than very low income. Why is that? The affordable housing experts and practitioners tell us this is because the developers projects are not financially sustainable. If too many of their tenants are paying rents that comply with federal limits for families at these income levels. It is simply a matter of cost when we asked but it will take to break the log jam that uniformly told us additional financial subsidies. This is what the Florida Housing Finance Corporation has done with some projects, offering developers additional subsidized financing to offset lower rent income from it increasing their set asides of rental units that can be afforded by families with very low and extremely low incomes. The experts and practitioners with whom we have been speaking, all tell us that this is the this is the role of Tallahassee, very low income affordable rental housing trust fund, can play in expanding on our recent successes to more rapidly attack the huge deficit in affordable rental housing that afflicts our most vulnerable families. We're working with several of these folks to fashion and effect the trust fund concept. We will be sharing that proposal with staff over the next few weeks, and with each of you in meetings that we are arranging for early next year. And we look forward to these conversations. Thank you.
