South Florida stands to see a multimillion-dollar infusion from the state to make housing more affordable as part of a new effort to tackle the affordability crisis that’s stretching many paychecks thin.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 102, also known as the “Live Local Act,” into law last week, effectively redirecting tax revenue for affordable housing over the next 10 years and offering various incentives to developers to create more affordable housing.
A total of $711 million is supposed to go toward funding affordable housing across the state of Florida. For the most part, leaders and advocates in South Florida feel the new effort is an important step in helping address an affordability crisis that is fueling homelessness and forcing local residents to sacrifice on basic necessities to make rent.
“We are a service-based economy,” said Walter Duke, of Walter Duke & Partners. Duke also sits on the board of various affordable housing committees in Broward County. “If we don’t have places for our service workers to live, it’s going to damage our economy and long-term sustainability.”
Where is funding going?
The bill gives funding to various programs that deal with affordable housing over the next 10 years.
About $252 million is directed to the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program, $150 million a year to the State Apartment Incentive Loan, or SAIL, program, and an additional $100 million for the Hometown Heroes program.
Under the SHIP program, South Florida is expected to get millions of dollars to put toward affordable housing. SHIP funds are typically used for mortgage buydowns, buying property for affordable housing, down payment and closing-cost assistance, impact fees and construction and gap financing, among other items.
“Right off the bat, there is more funding and that is absolutely a good thing,” noted Suzanne Cabrera, president & CEO of the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County Inc. “It was a good feeling to have affordable housing be one of the top priorities in a long time.”
According to a document provided by Cabrera, Palm Beach County’s local SHIP partners are expected to get an estimated $17,389,885, while Broward County is expected to receive $22,534,548.
Miami-Dade should be receiving about $20,155,423.
The SAIL program offers low-interest loans to affordable-housing developers, an incentive that could bring more units to South Florida, while it’s still unclear exactly how many affordable units it could bring.
“It’s been made clear that in order to help further alleviate the housing crisis we need to be building hundreds of thousands of units in order to accommodate not only the individuals who are looking to call South Florida their home, but those who have always called South Florida home and are being priced out of this state,” said Kathleen Cannon, president and CEO of United Way of Broward County.
Concerns about the state’s efforts
The “Live Local Act” also preempts local zoning laws, and allows developers to build units in commercial and industrial areas as long as 40% of the units are affordable. It also strips local governments’ power to enact any sort of rent-control measures, and preempts local laws in regards to density and building heights in certain circumstances.
“I have mixed feelings about it,” said Gregg Weiss, mayor of Palm Beach County. “It’s great that we have additional funding for the affordable housing fund. But some of the challenges of having no oversight or control as it relates to potential issues with infrastructure, to allowing increased density. There are concerns about residential use in industrial areas due to some of the hazardous areas.”
There also has been concern about the potential limiting of local government when it comes to what is allowed to be built across South Florida.
“Overtown, Allapattah, Liberty City, these historically discriminated-against and systemically discriminated-against areas are now areas of interest for development because they are above sea level. And provisions in this bill remove the local government’s authority to address issues that are particular to these communities,” Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, said previously.
The bill also prevents local governments from enacting any sort of rent-control ordinances at the local level. Rent control in general is tricky to put in place, as previously state law mandated that municipalities trying to enact it had to declare a housing emergency so dire as to need it, and to put it before a vote.
The city of Lake Worth Beach declared a housing emergency last year over the rent crisis in the city as a way to explore if rent control could help the situation.
For some South Florida leaders, the stripping of being able to enact rent control doesn’t change much for them.
“We have never been able to enact rent control,” noted Weiss. “They aren’t really removing something that we were able to do. We have been pre-empted from doing that for years.”
While there is still more work to do, advocates are hopeful that it will help South Floridians find affordable places to live.
“It’s progress, and sometimes we look for the ultimate destination in progress and don’t count the steps to the destination,” noted Kirk Brown, CEO of HANDY. “Last year we didn’t have $711 million and we didn’t have some of these provisions and now we do.”
