Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is a continual obstacle for Floridians. Per FY21 data, a full-time hourly worker making minimum wage, $8.65 at the time, would need to work 93 hours a week to afford a modest 1-bedroom rental.


This issue has become extremely evident in metropolitan areas. Florida’s most populous county, Miami-Dade, is currently working on investing $260 million into housing options for its residents, including 14,000 units of affordable housing in development. These solutions follow years of suffering experienced by rental and homeowners in Miami. According to Florida International University’s report, “Miami’s Housing Affordability Crisis,” six in 10 employed adult residents of Greater Miami spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, which is the highest rate of any large metro area in the nation.

percentage of income spent on housing-01.png

For more information and data following Miami’s housing crisis, click here.

For a full report on Florida’s housing issues by county, click here.


Resources:

Miamis_Housing_Affordability_Crisis_FNL.pdf (fiu.edu)

Miami-Dade County To Strengthen Resources To Ease Housing Crisis – CBS Miami (cbslocal.com)

 

In this year’s proposed budget, Governor Ron Desantis allocated $355.5 million to fund the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Funds, which provides housing programs and economic relief. This funding includes:


  • $95 million for the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) Program
  • $220.5 million for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program (SHIP)


Resource: Freedom First Budget BudgetHighlights.pdf (freedomfirstbudget.com)

 

FAC has been following several bills seeking to provide relief for the affordable housing crisis, including:


SB 1150 – Taxation of Affordable Housing by Sen. Rodriguez and HB 495 – Tax Exemption for Affordable Housing. Both bills authorize counties and municipalities to grant partial ad valorem tax exemptions to property owners whose properties are used to provide affordable housing.

 

SB 962- Mixed-use Residential Development Projects for Affordable Housing by Sen. Bradley. SB 962 authorizes a county or municipality, regardless of zoning ordinances or the locality’s comprehensive plan, to approve the development of mixed-use residential development projects on any parcel zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use if a portion of the project is for affordable housing. The bill provides that approval of such projects is self-executing and does not require the adoption of an ordinance by a local government. The House companion, HB 981- Mixed-Use Residential Development Projects for Affordable Housing adopted an amendment that specifies at least 10% of the units included in the residential development project be allocated for affordable housing.

HB 245- National Infrastructure Bank by Rep. Hinson and its companion, SB 1738 by Sen. Torres, Jr. requests Congress to pass H.R. 3339, which creates a National Infrastructure Bank to finance urgently needed infrastructure projects. Affordable rental homes are among the projects.