DeSantis Signs $711 Million Housing Assistance Bill to Help Make Florida Homes More Affordable

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media following his "State of the State" address at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee on March 7, 2023. (Cheney Orr/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Live Local Act on March 29, a bipartisan bill setting aside $711 million for affordable housing in the state.

The bill passed through the Florida Senate with a 40-0 vote. Lawmakers in the state House approved it with a vote of 103-6.

The legislation builds on the state’s Hometown Heroes Housing Program.

Created by a measure signed by DeSantis in June 2022, the program provides down-payment and closing-cost help for first-time homebuyers who are teachers, first responders, veterans, or active-duty military.

It also makes available lower-interest mortgages from existing federal programs such as FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac.

A worker labors at a construction site of townhomes in Tampa, Fla., on May 5, 2021. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

The aim is to help those workers live closer to their jobs, at a time when skyrocketing housing costs might otherwise force them into long commutes. By January, the program had helped almost 3,500 first-time homebuyers, according to the governor’s office.

The newly signed legislation puts another $100 million toward the Hometown Heroes program. It also includes $259 million for low-interest loans to developers building workforce housing.

It provides $252 million for local governments partnering with developers to build or preserve housing. And it provides $100 million to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to alleviate costs driven up by inflation in projects previously approved.

Rising Home Costs

In speaking to reporters ahead of the bill-signing ceremony in Naples, DeSantis talked about the strength of his state, the weak national economy, inflation, and the banking crisis. And he tied in the need for housing assistance.

Florida’s strong in-migration is something DeSantis mentions in nearly every speech. It’s a sign of how much people want the state’s low taxes, strong economy, and protection of individual rights, in comparison with the states where they previously lived, he says.

But the resulting demand for housing drives up home prices, he said. And prospective homebuyers face much higher interest rates now than they previously did.

DeSantis credited state Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Passidomo, who represents Naples, for the bill’s passage.

“When I moved to Naples 43 years ago, the community was talking about the lack of housing for our workers,“ Passidomo said. ”It’s a problem today, and not just in southwest Florida, but the entire state of Florida.”

Kathleen Passidomo, Florida Senate Majority Leader, talks about the Live Local Act affordable housing bill in Naples, Fla. on March 29, 2023. (Courtesy of Gov. Ron DeSantis's Office)

She called the Live Local Act “an amazing, multifaceted, 106-page bill of ideas and suggestions on how we can provide affordable safe housing for our workers.”

Part of the legislation addresses “the missing middle,” she said. It offers tax exemptions to property owners with new or recently renovated units if they offer them as affordable rentals for low or moderate-income people.

“We want our residents to live close by to where they work,” not an hour away, Passidomo said. “We want everybody to live local.

“And I am just so thrilled the Governor and the Speaker [of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner] are on the same page on this amazing product.”

“It’s really going to change people’s lives for the better,” said Renner, who also spoke at the ceremony.

“Politicians get carried away sometimes with ego and everything else, but, this legislature, this governor, we’re about solving real problems. And so we’ve got that done today.”

‘Solving Real Problems’

The Hometown Heroes program already has 262 participating banks, 1,300 active loan officers in those banks, and 3,300 realtors helping eligible borrowers, said Michael DiNapoli, executive director of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

“Because of this program, I was able to purchase my home in my community, which is huge,” said Detective Frank Jones, of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Living in the community he serves allows him to interact with people in his community daily, not just while on the job when people are experiencing a “bad moment” in life.

Carpenters work on townhomes under construction in Tampa, Fla., on May 5, 2021. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

Jones moved from Illinois, and found Floridians more supportive of law enforcement, he said.

“Here, you got love. I go places and see people, and they say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for your service.’”

Having good housing is critical for people on active duty in the military, said Brigadier Gen. Chip Diehl of the U.S. Air Force. Deployed service members take comfort in knowing their families are well-situated with the right house in the correct location.

He knows of families in the Tampa area who must commute up to an hour to get to their jobs.

“And that’s stressful,” Diehl said.

Ryan Carter, president of the Scotlynn USA trucking company, said he wants to hire 200 people this year to support growth in the southwest Florida business. Affordable housing is the most significant deterrent to prospective employees, he said.

He said they tell him, “Hey, I can’t find a place to live. Twenty-five hundred dollars a month for an apartment is not going to work for me.”

The new legislation will have an immediate positive impact on the problem, he predicted.