Another housing raid

Yet again, the Florida Legislature is poised to raid the Affordable Housing Trust Funds.

Recently we learned that Central Florida — which ranks as worst in the nation for affordable rental housing — will receive literally no housing assistance money under the spending plan put forth Tuesday by the Florida House. While we fully support sending housing assistance money to the Panhandle as proposed, Realtors believe that Central Florida’s economic development depends on funding programs that increase the availability and affordability of housing for our workforce.

Further, we learned that the House is proposing to provide only $123 million from the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund to actual housing programs. The fund’s remaining $208 million would be diverted, yet again, to non-housing line items. In the past 10 years, nearly $2 billion has been siphoned from the trust fund.

We strongly support plans by the Florida Senate and Gov. Ron DeSantis to spend the full Sadowski amount on housing. We laud the Senate’s priorities and encourage efforts to maintain full funding throughout budget negotiations.

The Sadowski fund gets money through document stamp fees paid when a home changes ownership. Realtors supported creating this fee for the specific purpose of funding housing programs, a need that is critical throughout the state and is a crisis here in Central Florida.

Money in the Sadowski fund — all of it — simply must go toward addressing our dire housing situation. It is time put the trust back in the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Jeffrey M. Fagan President, Orlando Regional Realtor Association