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Affordable housing hits the crisis stage

A couple of weeks ago, the topic of affordable housing came up over lunch. I was appalled at what I learned. In South Florida, it’s become so bad that we are now in a crisis, leading the nation in the highest wage-to-housing discrepancy gap.

More than half of our workforce cannot afford to pay their rent, and are paying 50 percent or more of their income on housing alone. Forget about saving to buy a home. Call it the dark side of our residential boom, but I don’t think our business leaders are aware of this problem.

I want to bring to light a stark fact. Our Florida Legislature is short changing us. Affordable housing is supposed to be partially supported by the Sadowski State and Local Housing Trust Funds. When someone buys real estate in the Sunshine State, a documentary stamp tax is paid on the transaction. That portion is funneled into the Sadowski funds, which are intended for affordable housing development, but the Legislature is not allocating all of the the funds into housing programs. Instead, they are being used for general revenue purposes.

In fiscal year 2014-15, Broward County sent nearly $30.8 million in doc stamp tax to Tallahassee, and we only got a fraction of it back—$11.342 million, according to the Coordinating Council of Broward.

The Coordinating Council compiled its information from multiple sources and SFBW was not able to immediately compile numbers for the other South Florida counties. But the Miami Herald reported that since 2008, lawmakers have swept roughly $1.3 billion from the statewide collected funds of $1.87 billion and moved them into the general fund.

It is estimated that there is $292.37 million available for appropriation in the Sadowski Housing Trust Funds for fiscal 2017-18. If this money is used for Florida’s affordable housing programs, it will create 28,700 Florida jobs and $3.78 billion in positive economic impact in Florida, according to the Sadowski Coalition, comprised of 30 statewide organizations, including the Florida Realtors, Florida Home Builders Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Legal Services and the Florida Catholic Conference.

What does this means for employers? For one, a tough time with recruitment. Employee candidates are continuously turning down job offers to find work in cities with more affordable living options.

We’ll see more homelessness as families are only one paycheck away from financial distress. And we’ll see productivity hit a decline, as workers are overly stressed.

As the region’s business leaders, we need to step up and fight the Legislature. We need to lobby together to get our fair share. If we don’t, the repercussions are too huge.

South Florida needs affordable housing for our workforce, for the health of our economy, and most importantly, for our people.

Please join me in taking action.

Gary Press

Publisher

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.