HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetterWilliam E. Sadowski
AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT
Landmark Legislation to Create Housing and Employment and to Revitalize Communities — In 1992,
the Florida Legislature adopted an extraordinary piece of legislation: The William E. Sadowski
Affordable Housing Act. The Sadowski Act is of enormous significance, in that it provides both the
funding mechanism for a dedicated source of revenue for state and local housing programs and a
flexible but accountable framework for local programs that stimulates local economies.
The Sadowski Act was wholeheartedly supported by a broad base of bipartisan and divergent
interests including home builders, real estate professionals, growth management advocates,
government agencies, and low-income housing advocates. Home builders liked that it created jobs,
Realtors liked that it created homeownership, local governments liked that it provided for flexible
and local decision making powers, and everyone liked that it targeted low and very low-income
households while leveraging public resources.
The Act establishes a dedicated revenue source for affordable housing, with two phases for funding
implementation:
• A ten -cent increase to the documentary stamp tax paid on the transfer of real estate beginning
August 1992, and
• A reallocation of an additional ten cents of existing documentary stamp tax revenues from
general revenue, beginning July 1995.
The Sadowski Act provides funding for several existing state affordable housing programs including
the Predevelopment Loan Program (PLP), the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program, and the
Homeownership Assistance Program (HAP). Several new state affordable housing initiatives were
also established, such as the Low -Income Emergency Home Repair Program, the HOME Investment
Partnerships Program, the HOPE Program, the Florida Affordable Housing Guarantee Program, the
Affordable Housing Catalyst Program for Technical Assistance and Training, and the State Housing
Initiatives Partnership Program (SHIP).
ewe make housing affordable
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