1000 Friends' Affordable Housing Program

Decent, Safe, and Affordable Housing for All Floridians (Foresight, Fall 1997)

By Dr. John M. DeGrove, President, 1000 Friends of Florida

Floridian Janice Lee of Gretna had been saving for years to buy a home for herself and her two boys. But unable to afford the monthly payments, home ownership was out of reach. "Unfortunately," says 1000 Friends of Florida Affordable Housing Director Jaimie Ross, "Florida’s tourist, service, and agricultural economy, as well as many retail and government jobs, too often provide incomes far below that which is needed to meet basic living expenses in raising a healthy family. Neither the working poor nor those unable to work can afford basic shelter." She concludes, "A desperate need for decent, safe, and affordable housing abounds in our state."

Affordable housing means what it implies—housing that does not financially burden a family. Generally, a family pays no more than 30 to 50 percent of its income for rent or mortgage payments. "It is important to understand that affordable housing is not synonymous with public housing," continues Ms. Ross. "Affordable housing is built by the private sector with a mix of private and public funding. It is not government built or government managed, and it can be rental housing or home ownership units."

Florida is a national leader in affordable housing. This decade has witnessed the establishment of a dedicated affordable housing funding source of over $120 million annually, enabling Janice Lee and thousands of other Floridians to purchase their own homes. The roots of this leadership lie in a 1990 proclamation of the Florida Legislature that "by the year 2010, Florida will ensure that decent and affordable housing is available for all its residents."

Within a year of that legislative proclamation, with funding from the Florida Bar Foundation, 1000 Friends of Florida established its Affordable Housing Program "to make meaningful improvements in the ability of Florida’s poor to obtain decent, safe, and affordable housing." Through education, negotiation, and litigation, 1000 Friends has worked to secure adequate funding for affordable housing, ensure the fair allocation of housing resources, and provide technical assistance to housing providers and advocates.

Funding for Affordable Housing

One of the first priorities for 1000 Friends in the early 1990s was to establish a dedicated revenue source. 1000 Friends pulled together a coalition of affordable housing advocates to shape and champion major state housing legislation. The resulting William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Act, adopted in 1992, made Florida a national leader in funding affordable housing. The Act increased the documentary stamp tax on real estate transfers by ten cents to fund state and local housing trust funds, and provided for an additional ten cents to be phased in from general revenue in 1995.

Florida now boasts an impressive array of financial assistance programs for affordable housing, ranging from loan guarantees, below-market rate loans and grants for developers constructing single- and multifamily units, to assistance with down payments and closing costs to enable low-income families to purchase their own homes (see Of Ships and Sails). As an example, the Affordable Housing Study Commission reports that in 1995 (the most recent year for which numbers are available): "23,023 housing units were either built, rehabilitated or repaired through Florida’s housing programs." The need remains daunting—in the same year an estimated 700,000 affordable housing units were needed for very low- and low-income households.

By initiating and facilitating the broad-based coalition which successfully garnered bipartisan support for affordable housing, 1000 Friends played a critical role in passage of the Act. Florida Housing Coalition Executive Director Michele Hartson notes, "1000 Friends of Florida is uniquely suited for this task due to its reputation as a fair advocate with a balanced interest in issues affecting growth management in Florida." Affordable housing developer Jack Wilson of the Wilson Company and member of the Board of Directors of 1000 Friends agrees: "In my estimation, 1000 Friends has contributed more to the success of Florida’s affordable housing program than any other private organization in the state."

But passage of the Sadowski Act does not ensure continued funding. The dedicated revenue source is only as strong as the advocacy behind it; 1000 Friends continues to lead the Sadowski Act Coalition.

Allocation of Funding

While the amount of dedicated funding is impressive, the backlog for safe and decent housing is substantial. Jaimie Ross indicates, "In the best of circumstances—full funding under the Sadowski Act, and no cut in federal funds—there is still not enough money to provide housing for all of Florida’s working poor, elderly, and special needs populations. This means that decisions are made regularly regarding the allocation of limited housing resources."

Allocation decisions—determining how Florida’s poor will be served by the monies available—are made in state agency planning, statutory and administrative rulemaking processes. 1000 Friends of Florida participates actively in these processes, bringing a statewide perspective to very complex, challenging, and sensitive decisions. As two examples, because of 1000 Friends’ involvement, the Florida Housing Finance Agency now requires that all units meet stringent energy-saving standards, and holds workshops prior to rule hearings to provide citizens with meaningful access to the process.

Technical Assistance

A third component of 1000 Friends’ Affordable Housing Program is the provision of technical assistance to government agencies, community-based nonprofits, and housing advocates. 1000 Friends helps demystify Florida’s complex affordable housing programs through a variety of means, including workshops, conferences, written materials, telephone calls, and on-site visits.

One way 1000 Friends works with local communities is through the Catalyst Program. Created under the Sadowski Act, this program provides technical assistance and training to assist local government and nonprofit organizations in implementation of local housing plans and use of state and federal housing dollars. Ms. Ross has been a primary provider of that assistance through the Florida Housing Coalition, a nonprofit network of housing experts.

1000 Friends also provides direct technical assistance to myriad community-based organizations, local governments and individuals involved in providing affordable housing across Florida. A case in point is 1000 Friends’ ongoing work with Gadsden County’s North Florida Education Development Corporation (NFEDC).

A community-based organization, NFEDC has its roots in social services, including a literacy program, food bank, and health care facility. Since its expansion into affordable housing in 1991, Ms. Ross has provided training on how to access and best use funds available through the Sadowski Act. Her work helped ready the NFEDC and its local government partners to take advantage of these new state programs.

More recent technical assistance has included providing guidance on applications for other state and federal dollars, assisting with strengthening partnerships with local government and private financial institutions, helping draft contracts between NFEDC and its development teams, and assisting with real estate closings. NFEDC Executive Director Carolyn Ford reflects: "Jaimie’s help has been invaluable, especially during some particularly difficult times of participating in new state programs."

Florida’s affordable housing program is based on the understanding that the magnitude of the affordable housing shortage is immense, and it will take unprecedented coordination, cooperation and participation by both public and private sector interests to bring about meaningful change.

"When the Florida Legislature proclaimed that all Floridians would have decent and affordable housing by the year 2010," contemplates Jaimie Ross, "they set out a very ambitious goal for this rapidly growing state." Fortunately, in the 1980s the Legislature laid a strong foundation by making housing an intrinsic part of the growth management legislation. In the 1990s the Legislature showed the depth of its commitment by the adoption and continued funding of the Sadowski Act. She adds, "Florida still has a long way to go to reach its goal. But in five short years, this state has made impressive progress."

Advocating For Affordability (Foresight, Winter 1998)

By Jaimie Ross, Affordable Housing Director

With its dependence on an economy stoked by low-paying jobs, Florida faces many challenges to ensure that its residents have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing. Since 1991, 1000 Friends has played a pivotal role in advocating for affordable housing. Our affordable housing advocacy has centered on legislative initiatives and administrative rule making.

Our most notable legislative achievement was passage of the William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Act. This landmark housing legislation was passed through the efforts of a bipartisan coalition of diverse interests, and was initiated by 1000 Friends of Florida. The Sadowski Act made Florida the national leader in funding and innovative programs for local private sector production of affordable housing to date, more than 58,500 families have been assisted with affordable home ownership and/or rental. The housing programs created and funded through the Act are defined and refined through administrative rule making.

As a part of our administrative advocacy, 1000 Friends regularly testifies before the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the state agency whose rules outline the type and location of affordable housing to be built, and the populations to be served. Over the past seven years, our effort has resulted in increased public participation, more housing availability for those families truly in need, and longer set-asides for affordability.

In the legislative arena, we advocate for affordable housing by drafting bills and collaborating with other interest groups to develop legislative initiatives that serve low-income housing needs. Legal advocacy in 1000 Friends' Affordable Housing Program involves policy issues of statewide application or concern, such as the Adequate Housing Rule for Developments of Regional Impact and the statutory requirement for a uniform affordable housing needs assessment for comprehensive planning.

We also advocate on local issues, such as comprehensive plan, land development, or development order challenges, fair housing litigation, and other matters pertinent to the integrity of growth management or the production and preservation of affordable housing. 1000 Friends has assisted local communities in nearly every part of the state.

Through our seat on the state Affordable Housing Study Commission, 1000 Friends of Florida is able to advocate effectively for both legislative and administrative improvements to Florida's delivery system for affordable housing. For example, I recently chaired the Study Commission's subcommittee on meeting the needs of the lowest income households, those who ordinarily are unable to find housing other than public housing. The Affordable Housing Study Commission will present its recommendations to the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate President for Florida to include the lowest income families in private sector housing, and return public housing to its original role as temporary housing.