Changes to affordable-housing fund heads to DeSantis’ desk

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Major changes to the state system that helps fund affordable housing programs are headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

The Sadowski Fund is a pot of money set aside for housing programs that has been swept year after year to help balance the budget, or reallocated for other priorities.

Now, as the funds are needed more than ever during the coronavirus pandemic, the pot could be cut in half.

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9 Investigates learned there is good and bad to this proposal. Half the money that is collected each year for the fund through documentary-stamp taxes would be used to address sea-level rise resiliency and wastewater issues; setting up a multi-year plan to address flooding and the rising sea level, which the Department of Environmental Protection would update each year.

But lawmakers say it would also mean the remaining amount in the fund could not be swept for other issues, which could result in more money being allocated for local housing programs than what Florida has seen in a long time.

“Florida is and has been in an affordable housing crisis, and being able to access these dollars is crucial,” State Representative Carlos Guillermo-Smith said.

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The main priorities of the Sadowski Fund include building new affordable apartments, helping people buy their first homes, and helping current owners fix up their houses. But for more than a decade, money in the fund has been used for other priorities.

Last year was supposed to be the first time the full amount of money would be allocated to local programs in years, but then the pandemic hit and caused a budget shortfall.

Now, efforts to restructure the fund would permanently reduce the amount of money allocated to those programs. Lawmakers passed legislation that would redirect 50% to sea-level resiliency and wastewater efforts. For this year, that would leave $209 million for housing programs.

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Florida Housing Coalition President Jaimie Ross says the reduction in annual revenue comes with a promise to stop the sweep of the amount leftover, which means housing programs could be guaranteed more money than we’ve seen in a long time.

“We have been suffering through sweeps such a long time, that most legislators, because of term limits, don’t know what we mean when we say ‘use all the trust funds for housing,’” Ross said.

Advocates are asking the legislature to add another $225-million in non-recurring funds for housing this session. That’s something that would be worked out during budget negotiations and could come from President Joe Biden’s relief act.

Cox Media Group