Leaders gather to speak about the state of Southwest Florida

Reporter: Andryanna Sheppard
Published: Updated:
Southwest Florida Inc. held a conference to talk about the state of the region. (CREDIT: WINK News)

Dozens of local leaders gathered on Wednesday for an event called the State of the Region, put on by Southwest Florida Inc.

They discussed solutions to some of the area’s most important economic challenges, including improving water quality, growth and housing.

Southwest Florida Inc., which incorporates Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties expects our area to see a 27% population increase.

That’s an extra 2 million people and those people need a place to work and live.

Josh Goergen, with Southwest Florida Inc., said affordable housing starts with local government.

He believes we need to focus on building more apartments that won’t break renter’s budgets and stray away from luxury apartments and houses.

“Right now, I mean rents are skyrocketing. Our workers are getting offers to come down here, but as soon as they find out how much housing is down here, they can’t accept the offer,” Goergen said.

This is the first State of the Region conference.

Leaders hope to have this event every year so they can bring more solutions to the table.

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