A look at affordable housing in Florida

Today’s HousingWire Daily features a crossover episode with RealTrending, a podcast that features interviews with the brightest minds in real estate and housing. In this episode, Tracey Velt, managing editor at RealTrends, an HW Media company, interviews three Florida Realtors on affordable housing.

Velt interviews Margy Grant, CEO of Florida Realtors, Christina Pappas, president-elect of Florida Realtors and vice president of the Keyes Company, Miami, and Juana Watkins, Florida Realtors General Counsel. 

During the episode, they discuss the mismanagement of affordable housing trust funds in the state of Florida as well as a proposed constitutional amendment to make sure that these funds are used appropriately. 

Here is a small preview of the interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: The Florida Department of State gave initial approval to a constitutional amendment proposal, which will be overseen by a political committee known as Floridians for Housing, and it’s backed by Florida Realtors. If approved by Florida voters, it will guarantee that money flowing into the state’s affordable housing trust funds be used exclusively for affordable housing. Tell me a little bit about Florida Realtors’ roles and your goals with this.

Margy Grant:  This is an historic initiative that is 30 years in the making. In 1992, the state legislature raised the amount of money that they charged for documentary stamps when a real estate transaction closed. In doing so, there was an understanding and an agreement that a very specific portion of that doc stamp money would be committed to affordable housing programs through the housing trust funds. Unfortunately, the legislature did not hold up their end of the deal. Over the last 29 years, they have swept $2.6 billion and diverted that money to other programs to fund the state of Florida. For 29 years, Realtors have gone to our state capitol and advocated for housing funds to be used for housing.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported across HW Media. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsrooms that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Elissa Branch.