Disney’s Horizon West Housing Plan Moves Again as the County Approves Easements
Orange County commissioners approved easements for the Michaels Organization's 1,369-unit attainable-housing community on Disney land in Horizon West — more than 1,000 homes below market rent. It removes a piece of paper. It does not yet put a crane on Hartzog Road.
2 minute read
The largest affordable-housing project in Orange County’s pipeline moved a step this week — on paper, at least. Orange County commissioners approved easements for Walt Disney World’s attainable-housing community in Horizon West, the Orlando Business Journal reported in its November 13 review of the week’s headlines.
The project
On roughly 75 acres on Hartzog Road in Horizon West — Disney describes its contribution as nearly 80 acres, a few miles from Magic Kingdom near Flamingo Crossings — The Michaels Organization will build, own and operate 1,369 apartments. More than 1,000 of them are reserved at below-market rents for qualifying applicants, whether or not they work for Disney. The county’s land-use approval dates to October 2024.
The easement vote is not the project’s only recent movement. On January 23, 2026, the South Florida Water Management District issued the development’s Individual Environmental Resource Permit — the stormwater and drainage approval that must be in hand before land clearing or vertical construction — with the permit running to January 23, 2031.
Why it has been slow
Since the 2024 approval the project has been largely dormant, the Journal reports, amid nearby residents’ concerns about traffic and other impacts. Disney once anticipated a 2024 groundbreaking and first units in 2026; neither has happened, and the Journal says it remains unclear when construction will begin. The easement approval removes one more piece of paper from the path. It does not put a single crane on Hartzog Road.
The stakes are the region’s defining squeeze: a visitor economy that employs tens of thousands of people whose wages do not match the rents within commuting distance of the parks. A thousand below-market homes next to the county’s largest employer would be the single biggest private contribution to that problem so far — if, and when, it gets built. We will report the groundbreaking when there is one to report.
Photo: downtown Orlando and Lake Eola. Photo: JER3L1337, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources & notes
Key facts in this brief were checked against:
- Orlando Business Journal — weekly top headlines (November 13, 2026) — the commissioners’ easement approval, the 75-acre / 1,300-plus-unit / up-to-1,000-below-market shape of the project, its October 2024 approval, the dormant period and the unclear construction start.
- Realtor.com News — Disney affordable housing coverage — the January 23, 2026 South Florida Water Management District environmental resource permit (expiring January 23, 2031) and the 1,369-unit plan.
- Florida Trend — “The new company housing” — Disney turning over nearly 80 acres on Hartzog Road to The Michaels Organization for 1,369 units, 1,000 reserved as affordable, open to any qualifying applicant.
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