A.G. Gancarski
A bill targeting mandatory county incentives to create affordable housing below market rates cleared the Senate Friday in amended form, with the House accepting the Senate version.
HB 7103 would remove local ability to mandate a given amount of affordable housing units in a new development or to cap prices.
Instead, the mechanism to drive affordable housing would be voluntary.
The Senate added a significant condition: “inclusionary housing” ordinances could require units being built, or offsets of comparable value, in exchange for incentives from local governments.
The House had already passed the measure, and House sponsor Rep. Jason Fischer called the Senate changes a “fair compromise” when asked, hours before the ultimate House vote aligning the bills.
“We will take it up and I expect it to pass,” Fischer, a Jacksonville Republican, said Friday afternoon. “It’s a great bill for our community and the state.”
Rep. Margaret Good, a Sarasota Democrat, offered an amendment to remove a requirement making the loser in a legal dispute regarding local comprehensive plans responsible for the winner’s attorney fees.
Fischer deemed that an unfriendly amendment, onerous to local governments, and it was turfed.
Summarily, the House voted the bill up by a 65-42 margin, sending it to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
2 comments
Susan Aertker
May 3, 2019 at 5:25 pm
These preemption bills are awful, yes?
This doesn’t seem like a good bill to me based on this quote from your article:
HB 7103 would remove local ability to mandate a given amount of affordable housing units in a new development ….
end quote
In my view, all school zoning areas should be a mix of low income, medium income and rich housing with the hope of making all neighborhood schools more diverse as to income level.
It looks like the bill may die in this legislative session:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/07103
Karl Nurse
May 3, 2019 at 10:08 pm
While the Legislature has diverted most of the affordable housing trust fund monies over the last decade away from cities, it does not shock me that they further restrict cities ability to generate affordable housing.
Comments are closed.