By: Kody Glazer
One of the biggest housing stories of the past six months in Tallahassee is that the 2023-24 Senate President Kathleen Passidomo has made addressing our state’s affordable housing crisis one of her top legislative priorities. Senate President Passidomo, who was the first Senator to file a bill to “stop the sweeps” of the Sadowski Housing Trust Funds back in 2017, and Senator Alexis Calatayud jointly announced the filing of Senate Bill 102 to address a variety of policies aimed at building more affordable housing supply in Florida.
Senate Bill 102 proposes record funding levels for SHIP and SAIL and a record $811 million for affordable housing programs overall. The bill fully funds our state’s Sadowski Housing Trust Fund programs plus an additional $150 million/year for 10 years for the SAIL program. Here is a breakdown for the proposed funding in the bill:
- $252 million for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program
- $259 million for the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program (plus up to an additional $100 million through the new Live Local Corporate Tax Donation program)
- $100 million for the Hometown Hero Program
- $100 million to FHFC to assist projects in the pipeline with increased costs due to inflation
In addition to record levels of funding for affordable housing, the bill also provides several new tax incentives to develop affordable housing, amends Florida’s surplus land statutes to encourage local governments to adopt best practices when using publicly owned land for affordable housing, and requires the state to identify state-owned land that is appropriate for affordable housing, among other policies encouraging local governments to adopt best practices for affordable housing generally.
There is not a House sponsor for the bill yet so as the House version is released, we will provide more information. We look forward to working with the Legislature and our members to help make the Senate President’s two-year term chock-full of affordable housing victories. For more information on what is in the Senate’s proposed housing package, contact the Coalition’s Legal & Policy Director at glazer@flhousing.org.
Information: Florida Housing Coalition, Image: Sun Sentinel
