Affordable Housing Opens at Disney World in 2026
Walt Disney World has announced that it’s earmarking nearly 80 acres of land for a new affordable housing development in Central Florida. This post will share details about the plan, plus our commentary about Orlando’s housing crisis, skyrocketing shelter inflation, and (some of) what’s causing this. (Updated April 19, 2023.)
“We are invested in working together with our community to solve complex issues,” said Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort. “The lack of affordable housing is affecting many people across our country, including right here in Central Florida. With this initiative, we’re lending a hand to make a real and meaningful impact in our community by tapping into the best of our company’s strengths. This is the right opportunity and the right time to take action.”
The development will be constructed by a third-party affordable housing developer and will be located on Walt Disney World’s land in southwest Orange County, Florida. It will offer Central Florida residents a variety of home choices that are affordable and attainable, in a great part of Horizon West near the new and expanding Flamingo Crossings Town Center retail and dining complex. The development will be available for qualifying applicants in the region, including Disney Cast Members.
April 19, 2023 Update: About one year after first announcing this initiative, Walt Disney World just announced that the company has been making more and more progress on this initiative every day. The groundbreaking on this affordable and attainable housing development is targeted for sometime in 2024, with the first units anticipated to be completed in 2026.
Walt Disney World also revealed that the company is also expanding its vision to now include approximately 1,400 total units – over 100 higher than initially announced. The company states that it hopes to make a positive impact wherever possible in the community; being able to offer more units means even more Florida families will get access to attainable housing, in addition to creating new Florida jobs as part of the construction and operation.
Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle and his team met earlier this week with leaders from the Michaels Organization, which will build and operate the property. Disney also recently joined Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, an organization that Cast Members passionately support year-round through the Disney VoluntEARS program, for the grand opening of its newly renovated youth center, which was built with the help of a $100,000 Disney grant.
Late last year, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort announced significant donations to local community food banks to support families in need, totaling more than $300,000. Walt Disney World also indicated that the company will keep working diligently behind the scenes to bring this important initiative to life! Visit DisneyFlorida.com to learn more.
Previously, Walt Disney World revealed that the specific location for this initiative is in a great spot west of State Road 429, just a few miles away from Magic Kingdom, near schools and shopping, including Flamingo Crossings Town Center. (We know it’s a great spot because we lived a stone’s throw from here up until last year!)
From that experience of living in Horizon West, we also witnessed a huge building boom in this area. When we moved into the area in 2018, there were a couple of phase one communities. By the time we left, there were a half-dozen additional developments, many more spotlights, and more lanes of traffic. All of which were built in the span of only a few years.
Walt Disney World taking 4 years on this from announcement until anticipated completion is fitting for the company, but not the pace of comparable projects in the community. Still a great initiative and it’s good to see it happening, just amusing contrasting it with how fast everything else in this area has been built.
Walt Disney World also previously announced that the Michaels Organization will build, own and operate the property. According to Walt Disney World, this is a prominent and visionary developer known for creating high-quality homes in communities in many states, including Florida. (I’ve seen a lot of housing developers in Central Florida, but never this one. Perhaps I’ve just missed it?) The development is expected to be privately financed and limited to applicants within a certain income range.
“For more than 50 years, Walt Disney World has cared for and invested in our community, and we’re committed to being a part of this solution which will bring more attainable housing to Central Florida,” said Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort. “We will continue to find ways to use our resources to make a difference in the community we call home, and we’re excited to take this step with a nationally recognized developer.”
After a thorough search, Disney stated that it chose The Michaels Organization due to its long-standing track record in building and managing attainable housing communities. Negotiations between Walt Disney World and The Michaels Organization on a definitive agreement for the initiative are presently underway. The development will be open for qualifying applicants, including but not limited to Cast Members.
“We are excited to work with an iconic brand like Disney to deliver attainable housing for the Central Florida community,” said Michaels CEO John J. O’Donnell. “Our goal is to create a repeatable model that we hope will inspire other companies and municipalities to create high quality, attainable housing in their own communities.”
This initiative will help offer a viable solution to one of the nation’s greatest challenges and will support and build upon Orange County’s Housing for All action plan to address housing affordability for local residents, an action plan brought about by the passion and leadership of Mayor Jerry Demings.
Here’s a video Disney previously released along with the original announcement:
According to Walt Disney World, this initiative has been in the works for a while as the company has been focused on finding solutions to this challenge for quite some time.
Attainable housing is one of many ways Disney engages with local leaders to help the community find lasting solutions to this issue, from donations, to supplies to its Disney VoluntEARS program and more. Earlier this year, Walt Disney World and Disneyland donated $300K to local food banks to support people in the community facing food insecurity. That donation was part of the $5.5 million that Walt Disney World has contributed to important community causes during the 50th Anniversary celebration, including organizations addressing the need for affordable housing.
It’s also not the first time the Walt Disney Company has assisted local communities with underserved housing needs. Several years ago, Disneyland Resort led an effort to revitalize the Orange County Housing Trust that provides “last mile” funding for affordable housing projects in Anaheim.
This made the Buena Esperanza project — a converted studio apartment community for veterans and homeless individuals with mental illness — a reality. In addition to providing them a place to live, the community offers job placement and mental health and wellness support to residents.
As a result of Disney’s investment a second project, Finamore Place, in Anaheim is under construction with an expected completion date of early summer 2022. It will provide over 100 additional housing units. Disneyland Resort will continue to show support for these and other such worthy endeavors.
The Walt Disney Company also spent years investing in local nonprofits on the front lines of important causes in the community like affordable housing. Through hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, the Disney VoluntEARS program, contributions to local food banks and more. Just a few months ago, Walt Disney World donated $3 million to some of these very same organizations.
In terms of commentary, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise to us. Shelter inflation is skyrocketing, with rising rents outpacing even the red-hot housing market. You’ve undoubtedly seen or read the headlines, but in case not, here’s an article from earlier this year about astronomical rental rates. That’s from this January, and it’s only gotten worse since.
In Central Florida, this story has dominated the news, with numerous analysts showing the local market far outpacing the national average. Rent.com’s latest data shows Orlando’s average apartment increased 38% year-over-year, far above the 20% national rate and 5% typical year increase. Again, that’s as of January–and is also only one year. Since this time in 2020, rents are up even more significantly.
As this blog is wont to do, we’ve gone off-topic several times in the last few years and commented on the impact of people “fleeing to Florida” on Walt Disney World. This trend has also garnered a lot of national attention recently, but the phenomenon is actually nothing new.
Back when Annual Pass prices increased in February 2020 and the June before that (in other words, pre-pandemic), we mentioned the ongoing population explosion in Central Florida. At that time, several cities in the Orlando metro area were among the fastest growing in the United States. Many of these new Florida residents are (and were) people leaving the Northeast and Midwest.
Our commentary at the time was this: “If new home prices and construction around Walt Disney World are any indication, these transplants are also on the more affluent end of the spectrum. (Behind Magic Kingdom, there’s been a proliferation of subdivisions with no end in sight—most of these have homes starting at over $300,000 and ranging up to $800,000.)”
Those price points now seem quaint (add another couple hundred thousand dollars on), but the sentiment still rings true. And this was long before “Zoom Towns” had entered our collective vernacular. If you’ve seen any of those ‘fleeing to Florida’ stories in the news, you’re undoubtedly aware that this trend has only accelerated in the last two years. In fact, many of you might be fresh Florida transplants from the Midwest or Northeast. In neighborhoods around Horizon West, you’ll spot more Cowboys, Yankees, and Patriots pride than for any Florida franchise (yes, even the Buccaneers!).
This has disrupted the local market in a several ways. First is the obvious one–there’s a sudden surge of people and building cannot keep pace with the influx. (To the credit of D.R. Horton, Toll Brothers, etc., they are trying their darnedest!)
Second, many of these people work remotely and are not part of the local labor market. I don’t have any data to corroborate this, but my strong suspicion is that the median income of these Florida transplants who work remotely for out-of-state companies is significantly higher than the average local hospitality industry worker.
In other words, there is not enough housing supply and suddenly there’s a sharp increase in median wages–but not necessarily among those who actually, physically work in Central Florida. Even with their own wage increases, the frontline workers at Walt Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld, and wherever else simply compete with white collar professionals who work-from-home.
This also probably parallels a story you’ve seen on national news. Here’s a piece on the “Great Reshuffling” from CBS Sunday Morning last May that focuses on how the Boise housing market had been upended, largely by relocating Californians who saw that Idaho market as inexpensive relative to what they had been paying. (It has only gotten worse since then.) Same idea in Central Florida, but with Northeasterners instead of Californians.
From my perspective, Walt Disney World’s motivations are fairly obvious. This housing is needed for its own Cast Members, who will be the primary “beneficiaries” of the development. (I’d assume company employees will be given priority, and it ends up mostly just a development for displaced Cast Members.)
Moreover, if Central Florida’s unhealthy housing market continues on its current course, the company will have (even more) trouble hiring Cast Members. I’m not going to revisit the labor shortage here, but it’s certainly relevant and the motivating factor behind this move. Disney is certainly a charitable company, but this is more about fulfilling Walt Disney World’s own needs.
Universal is facing a similar issue, and that’ll only be exacerbated once Epic Universe prepares to start staffing frontline roles. (I’m actually curious how they’re going to accomplish the hiring needed for that many guest-facing roles in an entirely new theme park. Here’s hoping they have a plan.) Suffice to say, it should be no surprise that the major players in the Central Florida theme park and hospitality industries are foraying into housing and trying to address this issue.
This is not to cast aspersions or criticize Walt Disney World. The company could simply turn a blind eye to this and lean even more heavily on the College Program, not wanting to associate itself or its employees with affordable housing.
While I think there are more underlying issues that need to be addressed, this is still an admirable move, and one that is not without risk for Walt Disney World. The media loves to connect Disney to any unpleasant headline to attract eyeballs, and exactly that could happen here if/when there are problems with this affordable housing development down the road. (It doesn’t take much an active imagination to envision future headlines with the words “Disney” and “slumlord,” regardless of reality.)
My only commentary beyond that is: build, baby, build.
This is a good first step, but a ton more construction and reduction of red tape is necessary. While way late to the party, hopefully the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates will cut into investor activity and reverse the current, unsustainable trend of shelter cost increases. That, in turn, should reduce prices–or at least slow price growth. (My fear is that some of the aforementioned home builders will instead slow the pace of construction given the added market uncertainty. Or that higher interest rates will make new home purchases even more unattainable.)
In addition to that, there need to be changes to zoning, a relaxation of excessive land use restrictions, and greater incentives for building or redeveloping commercial real estate that’s now unneeded thanks to WFH–and perhaps disincentives for investment and speculation. Of course, all of that is well beyond the scope of this post (and I should add the caveat here that this commentary is a reductionist look at the causes and consequences of rising rental prices). For now, Walt Disney World deserves kudos (as does Universal, which is doing something similar) for the initiative. It alone won’t resolve the supply/demand imbalance in the Central Florida shelter markets, but it’s a solid start.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney World’s announcement that it’ll earmark ~80 acres of our land for a new affordable housing development in Central Florida? Is this a good move or bad move? A solid start, or still not nearly enough? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Expand Frontierland instead.
Nice finally
It would be interesting to know where the bulk of the funds to build this affordable housing are coming from. Certainly not from the future residents. It gets old when ever a group of people cannot afford something a wealthier more affluent group has to pay the bills. I don’t think for an instant Disney won’t come out on top. My vote would be no if federal funds are involved. I am a life time Disney fan and hope I always will be but something like this and the multitude of non magical “stuff “floating around these days makes it tough to be loyal. As always, good post Tom.
Hi Tom – thanks so much for all of the great information that you provide! As I read through this article, I couldn’t help but wonder if the combination of explosive growth around Disney World, increased attendance at most parks and VERY slow expansion of the existing parks all mean that the Theme Park Reservation System is here to stay in some form? Even with that system in place, the parks are packed and more people that I talk to are starting to look into those traditional off-season times (August, September, etc.) for their future trips. It’s hard to see how Disney can sustain any level of guest satisfaction without permanently capping park admissions (and continue to hike prices accordingly) in the face of all of these pressures?
We’ve always wished and dreamed that Disney would build another gate at WDW, but your point is a very real one and illustrates that it’s not just a creative decision anymore. They are actually nearing a tipping point where it will be operationally and financially necessary to absorb demand with new high-capacity experiences like a 5th gate. Otherwise, they run the risk of the product and experience crushing under it’s own weight. We are seeing the signs now. They could put a cap on new resort rooms and attendance, but what good ol’ fashioned American enterprise does that? No — they reach for more. I’d imagine they are risk-adverse to a ton of capital projects right now given the state of the world. But eventually, when things have normalized a bit and the 50th is done, they would have by then made significant “recent” investments into all four gates, the resorts, DVC, transportation, and now efforts for attracting and retaining employees. If the economy cooperates, a 5th gate or some other people-absorbing enterprise will be absolutely necessary. I’m sure it’s on some 10-year Business Plan already.
“I don’t have any data to corroborate this”
While the office equipment certainly wasn’t cheap and required a big up-front cost, I’ve got to imagine the cost of expanded internet isn’t cheap anywhere in Central Florida. I would have to changed my lifestyle to pay for it every month on a single middle class income. (There’s costs as well as benefits to working from home vs commuting.)
Affordable housing for cast members is desperately needed. If it can be accomplished, it is a win-win. My husband and I are retired and would love to work for Disney, but simply cannot afford to live nearby. We have always hoped they would come up with a Seniors Program, much like the College Program, where affordable housing is provided for seniors wanting to work at the parks.
This is such a great idea. Given the ’71 opening date and the way three generations have now grown up with strong emotional connections to WDW, I bet there a tons of adults either in retirement or soon to be there that would love to work PT at Disney instead of the “more traditional” snowbird retirement communities on the two coasts.
I wonder why Disney is opting for the “Storyliving” concept out in the middle of nowhere California instead of building a stellar retirement community in their own Lake Buena Vista backyard.
Great analysis! I’m so glad to see affordable housing whenever and wherever it is being built. My family left NYC in 2018 and we briefly considered a move to the Orlando area. At that time, the comparatively affordable housing was a huge pro in favor of Orlando, but we opted to move close to aging family members in Long Island, NY. I’m looking at the same Disney-adjacent neighborhoods we considered four years ago and the asking prices seem to have increased 30-80%. It’s mind boggling. How can a family depending on CM wages hope to stay afloat in such an ecosystem?
Nashville is experiencing this same problem (as many places are in the U.S.). We became a hot city years ago and the influx of outside money is staggering. Home prices have increased by about 25% every year the last 3 years. I’m house hunting right now and getting beat by higher bidders putting down $100k over list price. It’s a frenzy here. And as large companies keep moving headquarters here, I don’t think it will stop soon. Just hoping they hire locally so we can all stay!
Same thing happening here in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs. We bought our home, and immediately built a pool, for almost $800K 3 years ago. A smaller home across the street from us just sold for $1.4M and one around the corner for $1.5M. The market is insane!
I like to move my family to center Florida
I just saw on the news that Universal announced they are building affordable housing.
Disney should keep then thousands of areas owned as sacrosanct. Purchase land outside those borders and go nuts
This part of the property was zoned for construction 10-20 years ago, and if you look at the old public imagery on Google maps or elsewhere, you can see this area has been built on already. As Tom says, this is likely the land right next to Flamingo Crossings which is dotted with storage buildings and the like. (Sorry to be so vague, but my old RC planning map and documents are virtually packed away for a move.) On a somewhat related note, WDW has done an very good job of keeping their internal wetlands continuous and pristine. In my opinion, the location of Coronado Springs is probably only thing from keeping it from being perfect.
It would be great if they built these apartments so that whomever owns them could also have a ADU so the owner could make money on rent too…or make it so they can have their apartment plus a short-term rental to manage. That would be a way for them to truly have a comfortable life and still work at Walt a Disney World.
This should be welcomed by all parties! I don’t know of many cast members who can afford Celebration housing especially since they don’t do short term rentals. Housing today, is ridiculously high, but expenses are up all across the board for landlords as well. I hope this is better sorted than some other Disney housing. We’ll done Tom.
I wonder if the “qualifying” part will mean the prime limitation for Cast Members is simply that they are Cast Members, but then what will qualify other residents. I would think there would be some kind of income limitation. I would also think, from a PR-perspective, they will want to be careful about how that’s created as a qualifying requirement. If it’s simply a means test, I could see negative PR around that. (Disney Cast Members have to essentially rely on income-based housing subsidies, etc. – especially if they go any kind of route the involves qualification for housing vouchers.) Since Disney is using their land, I would think that’s essentially part of the subsidy, so to speak, of the cost, which in turn should allow it to be more affordable to build and run.
I just want the people moving to Florida to stop driving so slow in the far left lane.
Totally irrelevant
1300 units on 80 acres? Have to assume it’s condos. Cant imagine fitting that many houses on that amount of land.
There’s no way any of it is single family housing. That’d be too costly to construct and likely wouldn’t meet the standards for affordable housing. Plus, it looks like apartments in the concept art. 😉
“”The development will be for qualifying applicants in the region, INCLUDING Disney cast members””. Qualifying applicants?? Make of that what you will.
I would assume there are income limits in order to qualify, like most affordable housing.
Seriously Tom? What cast member is going to afford housing on a Disney paycheck!
I’m impressed by your knowledge of the situation, and it’s a fascinating thing to read about. I caught ‘The Florida Project’ by accident on Netflix during the pandemic, and since then (and following your blogs) it’s been a situation I’ve had interest in and have tried to donate to help remediate. I don’t have much to add here beyond just general praise–you sound well-researched, and I like reading these kind of posts interspersed with your other ones. Disney alone can’t solve this crisis, but they certainly could make a pretty big dent…and having an application process should help make sure these homes are getting to the people who need them most.
First, Florida Project is a great film and one that every Disney fan should see.
And thanks for the kind words. I read as much as I can about demographics, housing, and economics–outside of the company’s own decisions, the intersection of the three plays a huge role in Disney’s future.
Great recap and commentary. I wonder how the recent pushback against Reedy Creek will play into all this. Politicians don’t like it when someone else solves their problem, no matter how much it actually fits into a capitalist approach to governing. You’d think this would be applauded. A corporation is re-investing into the community and earning a buck at the same time. Something tells me the headlines won’t reflect that.
I don’t believe for a second that any serious state or (especially) local leaders actually want RCID to go away. Too much of what passes as “politics” these days is simply culture war nonsense meant to rile up the base, garner free publicity, and fuel campaign contributions. This is hardly unique to Florida, or even one party, for that matter.
Nobody wants affordable housing built near them for a reason. The population this serves have exceptionally high crime rates. Housing for injured former military would be a huge publicity plus for Disney . Housing for former drug dealers and felons, not so much. I see this as a major negative for the company. Between this and their other woke positions, I think it’s time to finally sell my stock.
The population this serves is Cast Members.
Did you read the entire article, LJ? I feel you read the headlines and made up the rest to suit your own biased and limited perspective.
And apparently, you have never had one day’s problem securing an apartment or qualifying for a mortgage.
You can just say you hate poor people. We won’t like you, but at least you won’t be wasting so much energy typing.
Someone cover grandpa up with a blanket. He fell asleep in front of FoxNews again. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Wow you don’t seem like a very nice person(LJ) assuming low life criminals would live in the affordable housing when it is obviously meant for cast members,having a low wage doesn’t make a person scum
You need a hug buddy
Your co comment Is RIDICULOUS and very OFFENSIVE! Every human being is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!!! ♀️♀️take a seat