Disney World Cast Members Are Being Pushed Out of Florida

Disney World cast members find themselves being squeezed on all sides. Last year, they fought for and won a raise to $18 an hour, but while that was happening, prices for rent and food exploded in Central Florida.

The average rent in Central Florida is $400 more than the national average, which costs cast members $1,900 a month. A Disney World cast member making $18 an hour, working 40 hours a week, would make $37,440 a year before taxes.

Rent in Central Florida would cost that same cast member $22,800 a year or 61 percent of their base salary. This inability to afford rent is what has caused as many as one in five Walt Disney World cast members to be homeless.

But with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing a law that bans homeless encampments and with limited funds, Disney World cast members find themselves with limited options for living in Central Florida.

The new law signed by the governor makes it illegal for these homeless cast members to sleep on public property and allows police to move them away forcibly. However, it does nothing to create affordable housing options for them.

Walt Disney World does have a plan to offer these cast members, who do work full-time, affordable housing in the area with 1,000 units available at a lower cost, but that plan has run into headwinds as residents rally against the proposed housing project.

The proposed project near the Flamingo Crossings Town Center sits on 80 acres and would include 1,400 units, including 1,000 units of affordable housing.

However, neighbors rallied against the affordable housing complex, complaining that the proposal would increase traffic in an already congested area and overwhelm the school system. The neighbors took their complaints to the Orange County Commission, which is set to vote on moving the project forward or sending it back to developers to make changes to the plans.

Alex Cabrera, whose home is less than two miles away, told the Orlando Sentinel: 

My family and I, we moved here, after an exhaustive research, knowing full well that Disney would be our neighbor. We just never thought they’d be bad neighbors. They’re trying to pack an enormous amount of density into what is essentially the size of a Costco parking lot. It’s just way too much.

To help combat the rush into Orange County schools, Disney agreed to open the new affordable housing development in phases not to overwhelm the schools. The Walt Disney Company also agreed to pay developer fees for infrastructure projects in Orange County.

The Walt Disney World Resort does not just back the project, but the Flamingo Crossing project is also supported by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, who said that this affordable housing project will benefit its members who struggle to find attainable housing.

But while this affordable housing project makes its way through the approval process, Walt Disney World Resort cast members cannot afford to live in Central Florida but cannot be homeless there either. It is a no-win situation for these people who make Disney World a special place.

What do you think of Disney World cast members being unable to find affordable housing in Central Florida? Let us know in the comments.