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Affordable housing

Florida residents, including hurricane victims, will get help finding homes under a new bill.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 2, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Florida will spend $516-million to help the working poor, middle-income residents and those affected by hurricanes find homes they can afford under a bill Gov. Jeb Bush planned to sign Thursday.

Builders will be able to access $93-million to build rental housing and $15-million to build homes for farmworkers or residents struck by previous storms.

The affordable housing bill also includes close to $8-million for homeless people, $30-million for working poor Floridians and $50-million to help middle-income workers such as teachers, nurses and police officers find housing in the same communities where they work.

Another $236-million will pay for existing state housing programs to help Floridians find affordable housing, including through the Florida Housing Finance Corp.

While lawmakers touted the spending, some advocates said the amount spent compared to the money available is puny. Nearly $940-million was available for appropriation in state housing trust funds, but lawmakers spent only $433-million. Last year, they spent $10-million more than that.

"I think it's an inexplicable outcome at a time of unprecedented housing crisis," said Jamie Ross, an affordable housing advocate with the nonprofit 1000 Friends of Florida organization.

But state Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples, the bill sponsor, said the number marks success - especially when combined with $83-million in federal funding for local projects and housing money appropriated in other bills.

For example, another bill Bush plans to sign Thursday contains $250-million to equip homes against hurricane damage, he said.

"That's three-quarters of a billion dollars, last time I checked. I think the only honest way is to look at what the total package is because then you can understand what a huge impact this is going to have," Davis said.

With the bill, legislators created a new category for extremely low-income workers, those who make 30 percent of the area median income. Plus, money that wasn't spent this year could be appropriated next session, Ross said.

"The bad news is that the money won't be used because it wasn't appropriated," she said. "The good news is it wasn't used for something else, so we can use it next year."

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 05:50:48]