State gives $965K to Monroe County affordable housing project

Monroe County residents will get an affordable housing boost thanks to last-minute funding by the Legislature.

State senators OK’d a $965,500 set-aside in their annual “sprinkle list” for a Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys house-building project.

Rep. Jim Mooney and lobbyists from The Southern Group in October asked for $1 million more than what the Senate ultimately gave the project this month.

The plan was to combine the state funds and $6.4 million in local dollars to build 13 desperately needed housing units in the Upper Keys, six in the Middle Keys and eight in the Lower Keys.

– Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics