Orlando has a median household income of $52,385, which makes it the third worst city among the country’s top 25 metropolitan areas. To pile it on, you have to make at least $20 an hour to be able to afford a two bedroom apartment. Either people need to be paid more, or housing needs to get cheaper. 

Today, JPMorgan Chase issued a $5 million grant to the Florida Community Loan Fund and New Jersey Community Capital to increase affordable housing in Central Florida.

The organizations will use the grant over the next three years to help renters by providing capital to repurpose shipping containers into apartment complexes, as well as transform real estate properties into affordable rental housing. They also plan on renovating existing multifamily properties to preserve long-term affordability. 

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One in 50 families in Central Florida experience homelessness each year, according to a 2015 report by Barbara Poppe and the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness. Due to the lack of affordable rental units and other barriers, many of these families end up hotels, motels, homeless shelters, or with other families.

“Central Florida has one of the nation’s highest rates of cost-burdened renters and the greatest shortage of affordable housing,” said Mel Martinez, chairman of the Southeast division for JPMorgan Chase. “We’re investing in this region because we see local leaders and organizations working together to come up with innovative ways to solve this problem.”

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Within the past two years Chase has awarded more than $2 million to find affordable housing solutions in Central Florida. This includes a $450,000 grant to Crisis Housing Solutions to develop the nation’s first high-density multifamily rental complex using repurposed shipping containers.

This new $5 million investment is part of Chase’s $125 million, five-year PRO Neighborhood initiative, which aims to revitalize communities across the nation.

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This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2017.