Florida Rep. Vicki Lopez filed two housing bills that would ease the development of Live Local Act and other affordable housing projects.
Lopez, a Miami Republican whose district includes Key Biscayne, is sponsoring House Bill 943, called Real Property and Land Use Development, and House Bill 923. The legislative session started on Tuesday, and both bills were read on the House floor.
Bilzin Sumberg attorney and lobbyist Anthony De Yurre, who helped craft the Live Local Act and worked on the latest bills, said the proposed changes will help developers secure funding for their projects.
“We have a number of lenders that are looking for clarification that they can go and really open the faucet on the capital side,” De Yurre said, including agency lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The bills are also aimed at cracking down on litigation by requiring the challenging party to cover legal fees if they lose.
The Live Local Act, signed into law nearly two years ago, incentivizes developers with density, height, parking, tax and other sweeteners, if they designate a portion or all of their residential units in a project for affordable housing. The legislation largely forces local governments to administratively approve projects that comply. Developers have submitted dozens of applications across the state since it became law.
Here’s what the two proposed housing bills would do:
HB 923
The way the law exists today, property owners/developers of these projects can receive a 100 percent property tax exemption of the assessed value of each unit in an affordable housing project, if all the units meet the requirements under the Live Local Act. If only a portion of the units meet Live Local’s requirements, the property owners and developers can receive a credit of up to 75 percent of their property taxes.
HB 923 expands on affordable housing tax credits and developers’ ability to transfer them. De Yurre said currently, the tax credits don’t kick in until construction is completed, which makes financing these projects more difficult.
“If we can vest [tax exemptions] at the site plan submittal, then the construction lenders will get comfortable,” he said.
HB 943
As written, House Bill 943 would amend the state’s affordable housing legislation to continue to override local governments. It would also:
- Require municipalities to approve such projects on land owned by religious institutions, local governments and district school boards.
- Require municipalities to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential on sites zoned for planned unit development and or in zoning districts not solely designated for single-family homes or duplex, if at least 40 percent of the residential units in these projects are affordable for a period of at least 30 years. Examples of a planned unit development, or PUD, can include a community of single-family homes or townhouses.
- Ban local governments from requiring developers of these projects to obtain amendments to development agreements and restrictive covenants. This would expand a section in the Live Local Act that restricts municipalities from requiring changes to zoning, land use or comprehensive plan amendments.
- Require local governments to allow developers to include adjacent land in their affordable housing projects if the projects comply with the Live Local Act.
- Require local municipalities to allow developers to use the maximum lot size, height, density and floor area ratio as allowed when Live Local was passed or became law in 2023. This means that any city or county that passed legislation or ordinances to try to curb Live Local after the Legislature approved it or when it became law later that year, would not be able to use that when considering a Live Local application.
- Restrict local governments from initiating or enforcing zoning-in-progress or building moratoriums as they relate to these projects.
- Require municipalities to approve building permit plan reviews for proposed projects within 30 days, and give them priority over other developments.
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