| (Note: I'm reposting this diary verbatim from Florida Workforce Housing Network with full permission of its author. This is one more example why housing is such a critical issue in Florida politics, and why it may yet prove to be the downfall of the Republican majority. A second, brief diary follows (likewise with permission) that names the appropriate legislative committee members with email addy's if you want to write to them.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla --- Can Florida legislators turn Florida's affordable housing crisis into an economic recession? Of course they can. The big question is, will they?
That's a possibility, and given the Republican-led legislature's paucity of visionary leaders, it's looking more like a probability.
Here's Aaron Deslatte from the Tallahassee Democrat's Fla. Capital Bureau last week:
Florida economists projected Monday that the state's economic slowdown would cost state government $956 million between now and the end of next year - money Gov. Charlie Crist and lawmakers had banked on to fund new teacher bonuses, stem-cell research, environmental restoration and other spending.
The dip stems mostly from plummeting sales tax collections and documentary taxes on real-estate sales - both tied to an ice-cold housing market in much of the state.
"This makes the case that people have been trying to make on both property taxes and property insurance," the governor said, meaning that both issues were worsening Florida's housing bust.
The Pensacola News Journal said the same thing differently, also last week:
Estimates that state government tax revenue will be down $1 billion over the next two years is also an alarm for local governments. If it isn't a cyclical dip, it could be the leading edge of the hurricane, insurance and housing crises merging.
...While state tax revenues have slowed before, officials say this is the first time since 1974-75 that the state has seen a decline in revenue. That decline came on the heels of a severe recession sparked by an oil crisis. It was reported to be the worst recession since World War II.
The Orlando Sentinel picked up Bill Kaczor's Associated Press story that starts to pinpoint the problem:
 House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami [left,] said the Legislature held down spending over the past two years and put money in reserve because lawmakers had anticipated the decline.
"We know there are adequate funds to cover the most important state services," Rubio said. "We are committed to maintaining the same conservative, prudent approach to the state budget."
Rubio's "conservative, prudent approach" is a tax scam that promises huge benefits for million-dollar condo owners and higher costs for poor working families, while slashing local government's ability to serve its own people.
Here's what the St. Petersburg Times said about Rubio's tax scam last month:
The line between bold and reckless has been erased in the Florida House. A Republican plan to cap government revenues, abolish property taxes for homesteads and enact the nation's highest sales tax is so irresponsible and poorly designed it would be laughed off if it wasn't backed by House Speaker Marco Rubio and his leadership team. They have created a risky scheme that would make a broken tax system more unfair, undermine the state's tenuous financial stability and erode our quality of life.
What passes for "the leadership" in Tallahassee is deluding itself. Florida is on the verge of an economic disaster. The 'affordable housing crisis' is the canary in the coal mine. And rather than deal with the problem, legislators are trying to wish it away.
Last week, 2,000 people rallied for affordable housing in Pinellas County. Maybe 10,000 people in Tallahassee might convince legislators to do what needs to be done. Large-scale public demonstrations sometimes have a way of bringing out the best in legislators, especially if some of those demonstrators are carrying pitchforks and scythes.
Here's what the legislature ought to be focused on:
Scrap the cap on the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
There's a billion dollars in the bank to pay for affordable housing programs.
Fla. Housing Finance Corp. is leveraging what portions of those funds they are allowed to spend at a 6:1 ratio. That means $6 billion in public-private investment for affordable housing if legislators 'Scrap the Cap.'
 It's time "the peoples' Governor" started living up to his campaign slogan. And it's time the peoples' representatives in Tallahassee started fulfilling their moral obligation. Florida doesn't need tax relief for overpriced condos. Florida needs to focus on its elderly, its working families and its middle class.
Or 10,000 protestors in Tallahassee---with pitchforks and scythes---might be more than this writer's silly old fantasy. |
Davis' bill adds tax incentives by restricting the valuation of affordable housing property. Most property appraisers now are required to assess property at its highest and best use. That means that properties that could be converted to condominiums or commercial property must be taxed [at the highest potential rate]. That leaves many landlords with few options but to sell their properties because they can't keep up with the taxes.
