Jacob Ogles
A new taxation bill from the House would revise provisions of the Live Local Act to change tax breaks for land used for affordable housing.
A proposal released by the House Ways and Means Committee would take a nonprofit land lease exemption created by the landmark housing act and extend it to land leased by a charity from a housing finance authority. The tax exemption would apply if the nonprofit subleased the land to provide housing for those with restricted income limitations and committed the property for that purpose for 99 years.
A staff analysis suggests that doing this would expand the pool of charities that want to address the housing crisis even without owning land to do so outright.
The new proposal would also require all local governments to provide a “missing middle” exemption.
That provision of the 2023 law allowed some jurisdictions to opt out of offering that property tax exemption for developments providing rental housing to individuals and families earning between 81% and 120% of the Area Median Income. Whether localities in certain counties had to offer that exemption was based on data from an analysis by the Schimberg Center for Housing Studies, but the House package pulls back from that.
Rep. Wyman Duggan, the Jacksonville Republican chairing the Ways and Means Committee, said allowing counties to opt out undermined the effort to bring more affordable housing online.
“Well, 50 of 67 counties have opted out, and lots of other cities have as well. It defeats the stated purpose of the Live Local Act,” Duggan said. “If the intent is to provide affordable housing across the state of Florida, the opt-out provision appears to be counterproductive.”
But the budget doesn’t just remove the option immediately. Counties that elect against offering the provision will be grandfathered for a period of time if the decision is made before July 1 this year, but only through 2028. After that point, no jurisdiction can opt out.
Meanwhile, the proposal creates new property tax exemptions for affordable housing projects located on state-owned land owned and operated by private parties from the for-profit or nonprofit sector. The exemptions only apply if the projects provide at least 70 affordable housing units; agreements must be in place to provide that for at least 60 years.
