“The long-term goal has to just be structurally changing this untenable housing system that we have,” said Carl Gershenson, the project director at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.
Hurricane Irma damaged or destroyed already dilapidated trailer homes in Immokalee, Florida, in 2017. An effort to build permanent affordable housing is now getting off the ground.
Measures include supporting the production of mobile homes and tiny houses, and piloting new ways of financing. But federal money isn’t all it will take to change how, and where, people want to live.
The high-end project is clearing motels that provide an informal safety net for low-income renters. Officials say the motels are rife with code violations.