The Live Local Act, a Florida law aimed at increasing affordable housing for the workforce, is not providing enough affordable housing for three- and four-person families where the sole income-earner is a firefighter, paramedic, educator, or law enforcement officer, according to a report released Thursday.
In its report, the Florida Policy Institute found that the average salary for workers in these jobs falls below 80% of the "area median income" if they are the sole earner
The report — "Can Florida's Public Workforce Afford to 'Live Local'? — suggests codifying language to lower the AMI ranges or reserving a portion of the funding for lower AMIs to make the Live Local Act more equitable.
“Housing affordability is one piece of the larger issue, which is that the cost of living in Florida makes it very hard for families to thrive,” said Sadaf Knight, CEO of FPI, in a statement. “Although ‘dignity’ was a repeated virtue and goal when Live Local’s supporters were making the case for the measure, working Floridians who are single parents or living alone are often denied that dignity at ‘workforce’ AMIs.”
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, made a priority in 2023 of passing the Live Local Act to try to provide more affordable housing throughout the state.
Last May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 328 into law, which makes changes to the to the original "Live Local" law by setting aside $100 million for the Florida Hometown Hero Program. That program was created to help people such as teachers, health-care workers and police officers buy homes.
