The Live Local Act has garnered mixed reviews from local governments and housing experts since becoming law in 2023.
The state law provides generous tax breaks, land-use preemptions and up to $811 million in funding and tax credits for developers who build workforce housing in Florida. Qualifying projects must ensure at least 40% of units are affordable to people earning between 80% and 120% of the area's median income.
In Florida a single income-earner that falls in that threshold, on average, earns between $36,560 and $68,800 annually, according to calculations by the Florida Policy Institute (FPI).
In November, a report published by the Florida Policy Institute raised concerns that the workforce housing being developed by the Live Local Act will be unaffordable for many public sector workers.
READ MORE: Florida's Live Local Act may not be helping some people find affordable housing
The analysis also pointed out that the vast majority of applications received by developers under the Live Local Act was for housing at 120% of the area’s median income, according to the report.
FPI’s housing and community development policy analyst, Cecily Hodges, said that means workers earning below that threshold will continue facing a gap in affordable housing. She said many public service workers, like firefighters, teachers, local police and paramedics, earn closer to 80% of the area median income in the state.
Hodges said that people earning between 50% and 80% of the area’s median income are “definitely not making it, even though those groups … have a huge need and are severely cost burdened.”
In Florida, there has been a 99 confirmed applications for new housing construction through the Live Local Act, and another 21 applications approved for property renovations, according to records published by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in April. Twelve of those proposed developments and renovated properties are located in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota and Manatee counties.
In Pasco County, two of the developments — Tapestry Cypress Creek and the Gallery at Trinity Apartments — stoked controversy between the county and the state over the property tax exemptions that the law requires local governments to provide.
READ MORE: The Live Local Act poses challenges for Pasco County
Pasco County has been an opponent of the tax exemptions and land-use preemptions that are baked into the Live Local Act, citing frustrations over the prospect of losing commercial- and industrial-zoned land to housing developers without enough oversight. Last December, county commissioners threatened to sue developers over the Live Local Act but didn't.
In response to pushback from local leaders, Florida lawmakers amended the Live Local Act in March, including a provision that allows local taxing authorities to opt out of the property tax exemptions to developers in certain circumstances.
The amendment, which went into effect in May, allows local governments to opt out only if there is a surplus in affordable housing units for people earning between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. Official housing data on the availability of affordable units is published by the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.
In May, Pasco County commissioners voted to opt out of offering developers tax breaks in 2025, which was contingent on whether the region had a surplus or deficit of available affordable housing.
This week, the center published its 2024 annual report which shows that the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area — which includes Pasco County's taxing authority — posted a near 5,000-unit surplus of affordable housing units for people earning up to 120% of the area’s median income. The data also shows that a metro area encompassing parts of Sarasota and Manatee counties posted a deficit of 2,801 units.
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
