Affordable housing in South Florida has long been a problem, and even more so now with rising real estate prices and the cost of living. The truth is, low paying jobs are having a hard time finding reliable employees - one big reason for this is the cost of housing in Metro areas like Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
On Wednesday, Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill 102, known as the Live Local Act. The new law allocates $711 million of funding for affordable housing programs already in place, such as programs for developers as well as certain buyers called Hometown Heroes. It also increases the amount of tax credits for affordable housing and up to $5,000 sales tax refunds for building materials funded by Florida Housing.
This law will supersede current zoning, height and density requirements and require local governments to allow multifamily or mixed-use residential as long as the developments meet the required percentage of affordable housing units.