The Pensacola News Journal | February 9, 2015
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It was during her graduate program in clinical counseling at Troy University that Sweneda Berrian first gave serious thought to buying her own home.
In December of last year, that dream became a reality thanks in part to the First Time Homebuyers Program through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) that provided $5,000 toward her down payment.
“I remember when they gave me the key and I realized I didn’t have to give it back,” said the 32-year old of the four-bedroom home she shares with her daughter and grandmother in the Bellview area of Pensacola.
The neighborhood is safe, her neighbors are welcoming and she enjoys personalizing the house with simple splashes of color.
“It makes me feel good that I worked hard for it,” said Berrian, an outpatient therapist and Pensacola native. “They don’t just give it to you. Your credit has to be right and you have to be able to afford it.”
A bill recently introduced into the state senate could reduce by half the number of local people who receive funds for down payment assistance, emergency repairs, accessibility renovations and other affordable housing programs, local and state housing advocates say.
Senate Bill (SB) 586 is one of six bills filed by Charles Dean, Sr., R-Inverness, to establish the funding mechanism for Amendment 1, which passed with 75 percent of the vote in November. Also known as the Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment, funding for Amendment 1 will come from the excise tax on deeds, bonds, mortgages and similar documents, which currently pays to housing and transportation trust funds as well as the general fund.
According to the Florida Housing Coalition, under current law, the housing fund receives about 16 percent of the $2.1 billion document tax total. SB 586 would change the underlying statute so that Amendment 1 would get 33 percent, and housing would get 16 percent of the remaining 66 percent.
“So we get the 16 percent of $1.4 billion instead of 16 percent of $2.1 billion,” said Mark Hendrickson, member of the executive committee of the Florida Housing Coalition. “This is permanent if this bill passes. From now forward, the amount coming to housing would be about 40 percent less every year.”
The total potential reduction in Escambia County and city of Pensacola SHIP dollars would be about 50 percent, according to Marcie Whitaker, Pensacola Housing administrator, and Randy Wilkerson, director for multi-family programs for the Escambia County Housing Finance Authority.
Combined affordable housing funding for the county and city for the 2015 to 2016 program year would drop from just under $2.8 million to just under $1.4 million if SB 586 passes as written, they said. The estimated number of recipients would decrease from 253 to 178. There are currently 60 and 100 families on the city and county wait lists, respectively, for some form of housing repair, and those numbers would only increase.
These services range from roof repair and electrical systems upgrades to various ADA accessibility retrofits for the elderly or disabled.
“That allows them to stay in the home and stay independent,” Whitaker said. “They can stay as a part of the fabric of the community.”
“From an economic standpoint, we hire all local contractors and trades people to do all the work,” she said. “It will be less money in the community.”
The state SHIP funds are often used as the matching portion of federal grants, which also usually come with more requirements and limitations.
The Sadowski Coalition, which is made up of 30 statewide business, advocacy, and faith-based organizations, was formed in 1991 to secure dedicated revenue for state affordable housing programs.
Florida Realtors, a Sadowski Coalition member, is closely watching the bill in the legislature, said public policy representative Trey Price.
“Less money means less help and less of these programs that have been around for 20 years,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to see a permanent reduction of how much money goes into those trust funds.”
The Florida AARP has not formally taken a position on the bill but is concerned about the possible effect on its 2.8 million members aged 50 and over, according to Zayne Smith, associate state director of advocacy.
“When people think affordable housing, they just think low income, section 8 style housing,” she said. “But it’s a much broader group of people that benefit. Affordable housing is important and is a huge program for the state of Florida for all age levels and all income levels.”
Sen. Dean could not be reached by telephone for comment, but did provide a statement via email.
“The bills do not eliminate a single program currently receiving state funding, nor does it allocate funding to any new or existing program or project,” he said. “This simply puts us in the right posture so as we move forward in the budget process this year, decisions can be made in the appropriations committees on how to spend the money allocated to them for Amendment One projects.”
An important thing to remember during the discussion of the possible ramifications of SB 586, said Jaimie Ross, president of the Florida Housing Coalition, is that Amendment 1 passed with 75 percent of the vote.
“When people voted for Amendment 1, they never thought they would be hurting folks who are in need of affordable housing,” she said. “SB 586 can easily be fixed.”
The bill is in the senate and still needs to be passed there and then by the state house of representatives in order to become law. By then, it very well may change as others add amendments.
“The money has to be cut from somewhere,” said Jennifer Emery, Ph.D, professor in the department of government at University of West Florida.
Maintaining the share of the document tax that goes to housing and transportation trust funds would require a reduction of the share going to general revenue.
“The big themes here are what are the approaches to balancing the budget and what is the priority,” she said. “Oftentimes interpreting the will of the voters is unclear. Yes, the referendum passed, but the voters didn’t evaluate Amendment 1 thinking housing would be hurt. I think [the Housing Coalition] argument is reasonable there. Voters of Amendment 1 were expecting nothing else they cared about would be hurt.”
Article accessed at: http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2015/02/19/senate-bill-cut-affordable-housing-funds/23705991/ on February 21, 2015.