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One of the main issues Floridians face is housing affordability. Community and industry leaders came together at the Florida Housing Summit in St. Petersburg Wednesday to discuss problems and solutions in housing.
A crowd of industry leaders, policymakers, and experts gathered at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to attend the summit.
It was hosted by the Florida Policy Project, founded by former state senator Jeff Brandes.
“I think there’s a lot of regional discussions on this, but we really wanted a statewide discussion that brought in national experts to really highlight this conversation and help build a blueprint for the state of Florida.” Brandes said on WMNF’s WaveMakers.
Nolan Gray is the research director for California YIMBY and an expert in urban land-use regulation. He was one of around 17 speakers at the summit.
“NIMBY’s, or not in my backyard interests, have dictated policy, and what’s happening over the last few years is you’ve seen the rise of the YIMBY movement, or yes in my backyard. People saying ‘Hey, I actually I kind of want more housing be built near me, I want more affordable rentals built near me, I want more starter homes being built.”
He highlighted zoning concerns in development, and warned that Florida’s housing market may become like California’s if left unchecked.
“And even now that we’re having all these conversations about, ‘oh, the prices are falling’, we’re still far, far, far above where we were, even five years ago. So if we want to get back to a place of permanent affordability, we have to start building. Otherwise Florida is, I think, on the trajectory to just end up like California where we have a permanent housing affordability crisis”
Relaxing building codes to favor multi-family developments was a common solution proposed throughout.
