TALLAHASSEE – Lawmakers are poised to divert more funds intended for affordable housing programs this year, despite pleas from housing and homeless advocates, developers, unions and environmental groups to keep the funds intact amid a growing need for cheaper housing in Orlando and other areas of the state.
A state House panel on Tuesday released its initial budget recommendation, which includes $147 million for affordable housing programs but sweeps $240 million into other areas of the budget.
Orlando has the greatest shortage of affordable housing among the top 50 metro areas in the country, according to a report released last year by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
House budget chairman Travis Cummings said he’s aware of the needs throughout the state but needed to sweep the funds to help pay for other large spending items, including a $500 million increase to boost teacher salaries, increase environmental spending, provide pay raises to prison guards and deal with rising health care costs.
“We’ve obviously advocated the sweep in terms of some really great needs . . . but we feel with the teacher raises and other issues, the environment, that we chose to come out with that position at this time,” said Cummings, R-Fleming Island.
The Senate’s initial spending plan keeps all $387 million in affordable housing funds for affordable housing programs, as did Gov. Ron DeSantis in his budget recommendations. But the process of budget negotiations between the House and Senate will likely lead to some portion of the funds being diverted, as the two sides attempt to meet in the middle.
“The Senate’s position is very strong on affordable housing,” said Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, top Senate budget writer for the economic development portion of the budget. “As the money goes into the higher allocations of the budget process with the budget chairs and the (House) Speaker and the (Senate) President, they usually find some common ground.”
The House’s plan would use $48.8 million for the State Apartment Incentive Loan program (SAIL), which gives low-interest loans to developers to build apartments for low-income households and $73.2 million for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership program (SHIP), which provides grants to local governments to aid eligible families with down payment assistance and repairs for existing homes. It also dedicates $25 million for remaining housing needs in the Panhandle areas still reeling from Hurricane Michael.
The Senate plan uses $119.8 million for SAIL and $267.2 million for SHIP.
Democrats have repeatedly pushed for full funding, and several rallied with liberal and progressive groups at the Capitol on Wednesday to also urge their GOP colleagues to take up bills designed to strengthen tenants’ rights.
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, is sponsoring HB 1449, which would install protections against evictions, but the bill hasn’t gotten a hearing in either chamber. He also called on DeSantis to veto any budget that transfers affordable housing funds to other parts of the budget.
“Two years after Hurricane Maria, climate evacuees from Puerto Rico are still fighting for affordable housing,” Smith said. “Yet still in a plan released by the House . . . just yesterday the house wants to raid another $240 million out of affordable housing programs.”
The Republican-led Legislature has diverted more than $2.2 billion away from the affordable housing trust fund over the last 20 years. In lieu of more state funds, some local governments have looked to make up the difference using local funds.
Orange County commissioners on Tuesday set aside $10 million for the county’s own affordable housing trust fund, part of a plan to raise $160 million for the fund over the next 10 years.
Each chamber is scheduled to vote on their budgets in the next two weeks, setting the stage for formal negotiations. The legislative session is set to end March 13.
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