Florida’s New Affordable Housing Law Offers No Immediate Relief for Tenants

The astronomical price of housing is a major factor stopping many Floridians to get ahead in life.  You would love to save for a down payment on a house, but so much of your income goes toward rent that there is almost nothing left to save, even when you cut costs on almost everything else by participating in “buy nothing” groups, cooking every meal at home with inexpensive ingredients, embracing your natural hair color, and watching YouTube instead of paid content that requires a subscription.  You can try to move to a less expensive apartment, but good luck finding one.  When you apply, the leasing office will tell you that it will only approve your application if your monthly income is three-and-a-half times the rent.  With today’s rent prices and today’s rent prices, that is a herculean task.  Gove. DeSantis just signed into law a bill that encourages the building of affordable housing units, but it also prohibits rent control policies by local governments.  If rent is a major obstacle in your quest to get out of debt, contact a Jupiter debt lawyer.

What Is Rent Control?

Apartment buildings require more maintenance as they get older, so it is in landlords’ interest to raise the price of rent periodically, not only to account for needed repairs, but also to keep up with inflation.  Rent control is when a local government prohibits raising the rent price on certain rental units once a tenant moves in.  Local rent control policies differ on when it is acceptable for landlords to raise rents and by how much.  Rent control is widespread in some of the country’s most expensive housing markets, such as in New York City, Washington, D.C., and urban areas of California.  For example, in Los Angeles, 80 percent of apartments are rent controlled.

Housing is expensive in South Florida, too, but don’t expect rent control to come to your rescue anytime soon.  The newly enacted affordable housing bill outlaws rent control policies statewide.

SB 102 Promotes the Building of Affordable Housing Units, but for Now Your Rent Is Still Crazy Expensive

Even though it has the short-term effect of keeping your rent unaffordable, SB 102, which recently became law, aims to make affordable housing more available in South Florida.  It requires developers to offer a certain percentage of their rental units at prices that would be affordable to households whose income is less than 120 percent of the statewide median income level.  The new law also provides incentives for developers to build residential units in areas that have historically been commercial by constructing mixed use buildings.  In the short term, the beneficiaries of the new law are real estate developers, while tenants are stuck resorting to BNPL and risky loans to cover all our other expenses after rent gobbles up most of our paycheck.

Work With a Debt Lawyer About the Plight of Tenants

A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if your debts keep getting bigger as you put most of your income toward rent.  Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Jupiter, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

planetizen.com/news/2023/04/122486-florida-law-bans-rent-control-statewide