Photo: The Image Bank RF
Affordable housing is hard to come by in Florida and that's why it was a momentous occasion last week when the City of West Palm Beach opened its first low-income apartment building in 30 years.
Flagler Station took 12-years to complete and cost more than $30 million. It was the result of a public-private partnership with the city and is reserved for those earning no more than 80 percent of the area's median income.
South Florida State Representative Daniel Perez acknowledges the issues.
"A lot of my friends that were born and raised in Florida, wanting to start their families, their careers here in Florida (are) picking up and moving to other states with may a little more of a housing option than what we have here."
But he says help is coming through the "Live Local Act," a package of hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing legislation that passed during this year's session.
"We have what's called the 'Hometown Heroes Project.' We'll give assistance to fire, police, teachers, nurses, first responders in general that want assistance in their first down payment for their first home."
That program costs $100 million.
Perez, a Miami-Dade Republican says a large amount of the money in the 'Live Local Act' is fixed.
"In other words, future Legislatures won't be able to simply come out and take out the money and use for other general use purposes."
In addition, Perez says developers who commit to building affordable housing will have access to low-interest loans and $1.5 billion in new housing money that's budgeted to build more affordable housing units over the next decade.
He also says property insurance legislation that passed this year will help stabilize housing prices, but it may take about 18 months.