Estafany Londoño considers herself one of the lucky ones. At the height of the pandemic, the 24-year-old had to find a new place to live.
“A lot of the places I was looking at were small apartments for so much money,” said Londoño, an educator with a Master’s degree in sociology.
Hispanic residents in metro Orlando pay a higher percentage of their income on rent than anywhere else in the country, according to a study by real estate website Zillow. The average Hispanic household pays more than 42% of their income on rent in metro Orlando, compared to 34.9% for Black households and 29.7% for Whites.
Rents have gone up around the country as vacancy rates have hit their lowest point since 1983. However, “Florida really got supercharged during the pandemic,” said Jeff Tucker, senior economist for Zillow. A massive influx of new residents has put pressure on both the housing and rental markets.
Rents have skyrocketed this year. The average rent in Orlando is $1,712 for a one-bedroom apartment, according to ApartmentList.com. That represents a more than 27% increase compared to last year.
“That can be really hard to keep up with,” Tucker said, pointing out there is often a disparity between the incomes of locals and those of new residents.
But while affordability is a problem across the demographics, it’s landing hard on Latino immigrants and their families in the City Beautiful.
Marucci Guzman, executive director of Latino Leadership, said the issue starts with wages.
“When you have a community whose income is lower than their counterparts, and rent is the same amount for everyone, obviously a greater burden is going to be on their household,” she said.
Guzman calls Hispanic residents “over-represented” in the service industry. She brings up a recent visit to an area hotel where she saw a majority of the workers were Latino. “If it weren’t for the Hispanic employees, this engine would not be running,” she said.
Tucker agrees the issue comes down to wages, pointing out that Hispanic households in Orlando actually tend to pay lower rent on average than other demographics, though it is still a larger portion of their overall income. “What it means is these households have a hard time paying other bills,” he said. “It leaves household finances really brittle and makes them vulnerable to unexpected expenses.”
The issues go beyond the kinds of work people are taking, according to Guzman, who points out that Hispanic women are paid less on average for the same job that other demographics. “There are systemic issues that have affected the community’s ability to move forward,” she said.
One of those issues is also a language and customs barrier that can keep people from buying homes when mortgages would be cheaper. “It’s a cumbersome process for somebody that speaks English and has the benefit of having resided here,” Guzman said. “How you purchase a home here is different than the countries where many of these people are coming from. We take it for granted that people even understand the process.”
That’s an issue Londoño recognizes with her father. “Any type of application, he needs help with that,” she said.
And those problems exist even when housing prices haven’t hit record highs like Orlando did this year. “Right now there is such a limited supply of affordable housing that you can’t even compete with the investors gobbling up the housing,” Guzman said.
Guzman, whose organization focuses on health care, saw a lack of housing affordability lead to a rise in COVID cases among Hispanic households during the pandemic. “When you have two or three generations sharing a home, obviously you’re going to transmit COVID more within your household,” she said.
Londoño and three roommates ultimately found a four-bedroom house for rent in east Orlando. Londoño pays $480 a month for her room. “I feel like I got a good deal,” she said.
But Londoño said that safety is one of her concerns in living with roommates. “Having to live with people, that’s so personal,” she said. " You need to live with people you feel safe with.”
That safety can also be freedom from abuse. Gabriella Rodriguez is the executive director for QLatinx, an organization that works with members of the Hispanic LGBTQ+ community. She said high rents are preventing people from getting out of domestic abuse situations.
“Sometimes you have to preserve yourself if you’re living with family or people who oppose your lifestyle,” she said. “It has caused a barrier for people feeling safe.”
Guzman says that education initiatives in the Hispanic community on home buying would make a big difference. She also suggests changing policies to give people credit for rental history when applying for a mortgage.
Ultimately, Guzman says, if the issues of housing affordability aren’t tackled, they will lead to other expenses, from increased costs for healthcare to deteriorating neighborhoods. “We’re all going to pay for it eventually,” she said. “Whether we pay for it upfront or in the end, we’re a community. We are our neighbor’s keeper.”
