{"id":1906925,"date":"2023-03-29T22:41:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T02:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-signs-711-million-housing-assistance-bill-to-help-make-florida-homes-more-affordable\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T22:51:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T02:51:25","slug":"desantis-signs-711-million-housing-assistance-bill-to-help-make-florida-homes-more-affordable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-signs-711-million-housing-assistance-bill-to-help-make-florida-homes-more-affordable\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis Signs $711 Million Housing Assistance Bill to Help Make Florida Homes More Affordable"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdesantis-signs-711-million-housing-assistance-bill-to-help-make-florida-homes-more-affordable%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1906925&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0329\/b031836d-84d3-4653-90ca-80c10600e2ad\/audio.mp3?length=4161357&#038;duration=347\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Live Local Act on March 29, a bipartisan bill setting aside $711 million for affordable housing in the state.<\/p>\n<p>The bill passed through the Florida Senate with a 40-0 vote. Lawmakers in the state House approved it with a vote of 103-6.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation builds on the state\u2019s Hometown Heroes Housing Program.<\/p>\n<p>Created by a measure signed by DeSantis in June 2022, the program provides down-payment and closing-cost help for first-time homebuyers who are teachers, first responders, veterans, or active-duty military.<\/p>\n<p>It also makes available lower-interest mortgages from existing federal programs such as FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4492937\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> A worker labors at a construction site of townhomes in Tampa, Fla., on May 5, 2021. (Octavio Jones\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The aim is to help those workers live closer to their jobs, at a time when skyrocketing housing costs might otherwise force them into long commutes.\u00a0By January, the program had helped almost 3,500 first-time homebuyers, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>The newly signed legislation puts another $100 million toward the Hometown Heroes program. It also includes $259 million for low-interest loans to developers building workforce housing.<\/p>\n<p>It provides $252 million for local governments partnering with developers to build or preserve housing. And it provides $100 million to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to alleviate costs driven up by inflation in projects previously approved.<\/p>\n<h2>Rising Home Costs<\/h2>\n<p>In speaking to reporters ahead of the bill-signing ceremony in Naples, DeSantis talked about the strength of his state, the weak national economy, inflation, and the banking crisis. And he tied in the need for housing assistance.<\/p>\n<p>Florida\u2019s strong in-migration is something DeSantis mentions in nearly every speech. It\u2019s a sign of how much people want the state\u2019s low taxes, strong economy, and protection of individual rights, in comparison with the states where they previously lived, he says.<\/p>\n<p>But the resulting demand for housing drives up home prices, he said. And prospective homebuyers face much higher interest rates now than they previously did.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis credited state Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Passidomo, who represents Naples, for the bill\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I moved to Naples 43 years ago, the community was talking about the lack of housing for our workers,\u201d Passidomo said. \u201cIt\u2019s a problem today, and not just in southwest Florida, but the entire state of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5158373\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Kathleen Passidomo, Florida Senate Majority Leader, talks about the Live Local Act affordable housing bill in Naples, Fla. on March 29, 2023. (Courtesy of Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She called the Live Local Act \u201can amazing, multifaceted, 106-page bill of ideas and suggestions on how we can provide affordable safe housing for our workers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Part of the legislation addresses \u201cthe missing middle,\u201d she said. It offers tax exemptions to property owners with new or recently renovated units if they offer them as affordable rentals for low or moderate-income people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want our residents to live close by to where they work,\u201d not an hour away, Passidomo said. \u201cWe want everybody to live local.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I am just so thrilled the Governor and the Speaker [of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner] are on the same page on this amazing product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really going to change people\u2019s lives for the better,\u201d said Renner, who also spoke at the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoliticians get carried away sometimes with ego and everything else, but, this legislature, this governor, we\u2019re about solving real problems. And so we\u2019ve got that done today.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Solving Real Problems\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Hometown Heroes program already has 262 participating banks, 1,300 active loan officers in those banks, and 3,300 realtors helping eligible borrowers, said Michael DiNapoli, executive director of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of this program, I was able to purchase my home in my community, which is huge,\u201d said Detective Frank Jones, of the Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Living in the community he serves\u00a0allows him to interact with people in his community daily, not just while on the job when people are experiencing a \u201cbad moment\u201d in life.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4563054\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Carpenters work on townhomes under construction in Tampa, Fla., on May 5, 2021. (Octavio Jones\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jones moved from Illinois, and found Floridians more supportive of law enforcement, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere, you got love. I go places and see people, and they say, \u2018Thank you. Thank you for your service.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having good housing is critical for people on active duty in the military, said Brigadier Gen. Chip Diehl of the U.S. Air Force. Deployed service members take comfort in knowing their families are well-situated with the right house in the correct location.<\/p>\n<p>He knows of families in the Tampa area who must commute up to an hour to get to their jobs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that\u2019s stressful,\u201d Diehl said.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Carter, president of the Scotlynn USA trucking company, said he wants to hire 200 people this year to support growth in the southwest Florida business. Affordable housing is the most significant deterrent to prospective employees, he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said they tell him, \u201cHey, I can\u2019t find a place to live. Twenty-five hundred dollars a month for an apartment is not going to work for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new legislation will have an immediate positive impact on the problem, he predicted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Live Local Act on March 29, a bipartisan bill setting aside $711 million for affordable housing in the state. The bill passed through the Florida Senate with a 40-0 vote. Lawmakers in the state House approved it with a vote of 103-6. The legislation builds on the state\u2019s Hometown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1117,"featured_media":1906926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[23066,17002,3731,4980,5113,5966,4344,3785],"class_list":["post-1906925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-23066","tag-affordable","tag-assistance","tag-desantis","tag-florida","tag-homes","tag-housing","tag-signs"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1906926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}