A dream of father-son pastors, new affordable senior housing opens near Fort Lauderdale church

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A new affordable housing complex for seniors is now open in Fort Lauderdale.

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Local 10 News was there for the ribbon-cutting for the Mount Hermon Apartments at 750 NW Fourth St. in the city’s Dorsey-Riverbend neighborhood.

Rev. Henry E. Green Jr., of the nearby Mount Hermon AME Church, initiated the project in 2018. His son, Rev. Henry E. Green III, saw it through.

“At that particular time, our church was struggling,” the younger Green said. “We had an aging congregation and the community around us did not have affordable housing.”

From there, a plan was put in place with a 2023 groundbreaking.

The building now offers 104 affordable homes to South Florida seniors.

“Well, you know, I think for the Fort Lauderdale community, this means a lot,” Green said. “Number one, that a lot of people who are being displaced from this area have a place to call home. And then we also see that there’s collaboration between the city and this neighborhood.”

The affordable housing crisis has reached a breaking point here in Florida, and we have felt some of the worst of it.

Rent prices have soared faster than almost anywhere else in the nation. Experts say nearly one in three Floridians are considered cost burden, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income to keep a roof over their head.

“We just hone in on good projects that the community can benefit from,” Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Robert McKinzie said. “It’s in a historically Black neighborhood. It was important that you kept the community pieces there and affordability and access, so the community could be a part of these projects.”

It’s a partnership years in the making between the Housing Trust Group, Mount Hermon AME, and the city of Fort Lauderdale, along with key funding partners, with rent starting as low as just over $400 a month, more than $1,700 below the city’s average for a one-bedroom.

“To see the legacy, father handing off to son, really gives testimony that what happens when we collaborate and work together, good things happen,” AME Church Bishop Marvin C. Zanders II said. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Monthly rent ranges from $433 to $1,422 for those 62 and older.


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