The Live Local Act may not help some people find affordable housing

It has been over a year since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called Live local act into law.

With Florida 40th place The country is concerned about housing affordability. The bill is intended to help people live closer to their jobs.

But the law may not mean cuts for some officials, according to a new report from the Florida Policy Institute (FPI).

The FPI said those eligible for the affordable housing the law would create typically earn between 80 and 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI).

However, the average salary of workers such as firefighters, police officers and educators who are the sole breadwinner in their family is below this threshold.

So as that household grows, the affordable housing is no longer truly affordable.

According to Cecily Hodges, FPI housing and community development policy analyst, this places an unfair burden on those who single-handedly support children, parents or people with disabilities.

“The word ‘dignity’ was mentioned again and again in the arguments for (the) Live Local (act). So only people in a nuclear family deserve dignity?,” she said. “Why should someone who is 40 years old have to get a dignified roommate in order to afford an apartment?”

To put it simply, Hodges says Florida’s affordable housing situation is “pretty dire.”

Read the full report Here

The FPI noted the following:

• 83.6% of the areas examined are unaffordable for a family of three with the average salary of a firefighter.
• 0% of the assessed areas are unaffordable for a family of four with the average salary of a firefighter.
• 55.2% of the areas examined are unaffordable for a family of three with the average salary of a teacher.
• 61.2% of the areas examined are unaffordable for a family of four with the average salary of a teacher.

The report also assessed housing affordability:

• Affordable: Household spends <= 30% of its income on housing costs.
• Cost-burdened household: spends > 30% of its income on housing costs.
• Highly cost-burdened household: spends > 50% of its income on housing costs.

Hodges stated that the law should be revised to specifically address the needs of those who fall into the latter two categories.

“That’s a lot of your fast food employees, it’s a lot of your retail employees. Half of them are paying more than half of their income (for housing) and the other almost half are paying more than a third, which still has a cost,” Hodges said.

She said there are several reasons why the affordability problem persists, including the 2008 crisis when many developers went out of business and construction never resumed to the same extent.

“And then there’s property insurance,” Hodges said. “Florida’s property insurance costs just over $3,200 more than the national average.”

While she understands that cost of living and climate concerns contribute to this price, she compared our insurance rates to those in California, which has similar conditions.

“They are still about $800 below the national average because they have a lot of consumer protections,” she said.

Hodges proposed three changes to the Live Local Act that she said would lead to greater equity.

1. Amending legislation to determine the amounts of money provided to each AMI area and reserving some funds for the lowest AMI areas that are most in need. Currently, distribution of funds is at the discretion of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
2. Providing local government with a recurring share to incentivize government-funded construction of affordable housing. Currently, only private sources receive recurring funding.
3. Donate money to local governments for housing vouchers. The idea is that residents can use the vouchers for things like property insurance and rent.