The art of affordable housing

Call Orlando Realtor Steve Chitwood a dreammaker. He helps to make the dream of homeownership come true for many people who otherwise couldn't afford a home of their own through Art in Architecture, a program he co-founded with the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA).

And these homes explode the myth that affordable housing is ugly or hurts neighborhood property values. The program kicked off by building four affordable homes in Orlando’s Holden Heights neighborhood -- homes that not only look nice, but also offer pleasing details and amenities.

Steve still gets choked up when he recalls the day he told one homeowner the house was hers. “She broke into tears and then went around the house touching the walls and saying, ‘I can’t believe it’s mine,’” he says.

ORRA put up the money to buy the land, recruited local American Institute of Architect member-architects to design the homes and enlisted volunteer builders from the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando to build the homes at close to cost. “[Local Realtors] didn’t charge commissions on the sale of those projects,” Steve says. Plus, a title company provided the titles at the lowest price allowed under state law, and banks provided the construction and mortgage funds at a very competitive rate for CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) credits.

Art in Architecture is working on 10 homes in Winter Park’s Canton Park Redevelopment Project. What's in the future? Sixty town houses along Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando in partnership with the Orange Blossom Trail Development Board, plus 44 town houses and 10 single-family homes on another site southwest of downtown Orlando.