Affordable housing has been a significant problem across the country, and is particularly acute in Florida, which ranks fourth highest in the nation in terms of the percentage of cost burdened households, according to one study. In fact, reported  the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies,  862,465 low-income households in Florida pay more than 40% of income for rent. 

To help the state tackle this issue, last month, Florida’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) – a research arm of the state legislature – issued a report about Housing Affordability Policies in Florida, which included a close look at Florida’s State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP). This program “provides funds to local government as an incentive for creating partnerships to produce and preserve affordable housing for renting and homeownership.”

As the report explains, OPPAGA’s survey of “county and municipal officials found that local governments are utilizing various affordable housing policies, identifying best practices and engaging in interlocal cooperation.”

 Unfortunately, as is often the case, getting localities to collaborate smoothy isn’t always easy. In fact, about one out of five of the respondents “reported that there were factors that hindered interlocal cooperation. Examples of such factors included the cost of land and construction materials, local opposition to development and lack of funding.”

Despite that hitch, most survey respondents reported that certain policies had been effective for them.  

Municipalities surveyed indicated that “maximizing land and resource efficiency through mixed-use projects or utilizing flexible zoning were the most effective affordable housing policies. The latter could allow “mixed residential/commercial zoning or single-family homeowners to add accessory dwelling.”

The most effective tool, for counties, according to OPPAGA, is to leverage state and local funds, like SHIP, which was cited by 24 of the 41 counties that reported implementing at least one affordable housing policy, as effective. Some other tools that were mentioned but received significantly fewer accolades by counties included using programs for housing rehabilitation; and developing public-private partnerships focused on production of affordable housing.

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