Little chance for affordable housing in Manatee County

Regarding the Sunday article on affordable housing for millennials in Manatee County: As long as Bradenton and the Manatee County area continue to be a mecca for retirees (with lots of money), you will never be able to have affordable housing in this area with market conditions alone.

The reason there are no "500-square-foot hardwood floor one-bedroom houses" for $600 per month as cited in the article is because you have too many snowbirds/retirees willing to pay $1,000 per month or more here for those residences.

For years, it has been well known that housing in the St. Petersburg area has always been significantly lower than in Bradenton. My sister has lived in St. Pete for nearly 30 years and said the unwritten rule there has always been, "Live in Pinellas while working, retire to Manatee."

The only possible way is to legislate affordable housing, because the market in this area will always raise prices to the point where people decide it is not affordable any longer. Why would a landlord be willing to rent an apartment for $600 if someone is willing to pay $1,100? You will have to legislate the maximum someone can charge for rent.

Good luck with that! It will never happen voluntarily.

Jeffrey Maxwell

Bradenton

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Little chance for affordable housing in Manatee County ."