Housing Issues
Studies have shown that increases in housing instability lead to lower incomes, worse health and educational outcomes, increased violence, etc. It is imperative for every citizen to have permanent and stable housing to thrive and contribute positively to their communities. We believe that housing is a human right and we must build a strategic campaign that engages impacted people and challenges our state to guarantee housing for every resident in our communities.
The housing emergency that we find ourselves in was not born during the pandemic. Rather, the huge spikes in rent prices we’ve seen over the past 2 years are an explosion of existing trends fueled by the greed of corporate landlords and developers that saw the suffering of working-class Floridians as a business opportunity. Developers, corporate landlords, and real estate interest groups have donated tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians in Tallahassee while naming a supply shortage they've caused and benefited from as the problem that needs to be addressed. All the while, the Governor has handed out $5.7 billion in tax breaks to these same corporations and gutted the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The Problem
The Solution
Declare a Housing State of Emergency
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Re-institute the Statewide eviction moratorium
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Demand the Attorney General investigate instances of price gouging from landlords
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Request a statewide grand jury to crack down on tenant abuse and investigate illegal housing practices, including market manipulation and anti-competitive vertical integration.
Protect tenants with a Comprehensive Tenants
Bill of Rights that includes:
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Repeal state pre-emption on long-term rent control/stabilization
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End pay-to-play law requiring tenants to pay what they owe into the court registry
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Increase the court notice period in eviction filings from 5 to 20 Days
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Restrict security deposits to one month’s rent
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Place limits on the number of rental properties that can be owned by a single entity in a neighborhood/community
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Tax vacant properties owned by non-persons.
Extend Emergency Rental Assistance in the short/intermediate term to ease the burden of 1.2 million low-income Floridians
Develop and fund a plan to build 1.5 million units in 10 years through a “Social Housing” Program
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Social Housing is a mixed-income, public option for housing that is permanently affordable, protected from the private market and under democratic community control
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Restore & scale-up funding directed to the Sadowski Housing Trust Fund starting with temporarily but significantly increasing the Documentary Stamp Tax paid by large, out-of-state investment firms on single-family real estate transactions. Revenues will be dedicated to the Sadowski Fund for housing affordability.
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Direct the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to fund local mixed-income public housing projects.