How Disney is helping to solve the Florida real estate crisis

The Walt Disney Co. said it will build 1,300 affordable housing units near its Disney World theme park as it continues to face the heat of wage inequality.

The Mouse House said it is hiring a third-party developer for the project, which aims to build housing for employees and residents on an 80-acre lot in Orlando as Florida struggles with a housing crisis.

In the Sunshine State, as in the rest of the country, rents have skyrocketed and home ownership has become unaffordable for many middle-class wage earners.

The residences will be “affordable and accessible” and will offer “a variety of amenities to foster a strong community,” Disney said in a statement. The company added that the development “will be available to qualified applicants from the public, including Disney cast members.”

“We invest in working with our community to solve complex problems,” said Jeff Vahle, President of Walt Disney World Resort. “The lack of affordable housing affects many people in our country, including here in central Florida.”

Disney, meanwhile, has been criticized for wage inequality – loudest from the granddaughter of one of the company’s founders.

Abigail Disney co-directed a documentary with Kathleen Hughes called The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, about Disneyland janitors who make $15 an hour while struggling to make a living in expensive Southern California.

Disney has also made headlines recently for interfering in the political debate surrounding Florida’s new Don’t Say Gay law, which bans teachers from discussing sexual and gender identity issues with youth under fourth grade.

Abigail Disney’s film notes that former CEO Bob Iger earned $65.6 million in salary in 2018.

“I can’t imagine him taking home $66 million for a year’s work in the same year when people in the same company can’t afford food,” Disney says angrily.

Her sister replies, “It would never have happened – it would never have happened.”