Gap between rich and poor glares from new wealthy senior homes

If you can afford $3,695 a month for a two bedroom apartment, the new 5 acre Salishan apartment complex could be your next home. About fifty miles north of Tampa, Florida, the newly constructed 5 acre development off Barclay Avenue in the Spring Hill, Florida area recently opened its doors to the first 38 tenants who will call the luxury hotel-like facility their home.

In the midst of Hernando County’s ongoing recession and foreclosure crisis, the flashy, upscale building seems more like a beacon pointing toward further evidence of the widening gap between the rich and poor. Just a few miles from the Salishan, high unemployment has taken its toll on the neighborhood. Home buyers have a wide variety of foreclosures to choose from off Spring Hill drive, both east and west of the luxury senior citizen housing.

Hernando County remains an area where the population consists of an abundance of seniors collecting Social Security checks and pensions. Most have been untouched by the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.