Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, has seized on to what some predict will be a wedge issue in this competitive election: Affordable housing and skyrocketing rental rates.
Fried is promoting her first real policy plan called “Lower Costs, Higher Standards,” with a statewide tour of six cities that stopped in the capital on Wednesday and goes to Pensacola on Thursday.
The aggressive proposal, unveiled Monday, would:
- Declare a housing state of emergency
- Expand the Homestead Exemption from $50,000 to $100K
- Immediately veto any attempts to raid Florida’s earmarked affordable housing funds under the Sadowski Act
- Create ways to preserve current multi-family units
- Direct the Attorney General to investigate increased rents beyond 10% annually (because price gouging is not illegal with rents)
Fried has also talked about allowing municipalities to enact some sort of rent control measures to address an increasing problem in Greater Miami, where the Miami city commission and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava have recently declared housing affordability emergencies.
According to realtor.com, rents in South Florida — which has surpassed New York City as the most expensive place to live — have gone up an average of about 30% this year. And that number is increasing exponentially. In February, the year-over-year rent increase for a two-bedroom was more than 55% making Miami “the least affordable rental market in February 2022.”
“We need a governor who is willing to explore innovative ideas, like utilizing empty hotels and motels for conversion to efficiency affordable housing,” Fried said Wednesday at a campaign event in the state capital.
“There are a million great ideas out there, but too often, it’s held up by bureaucratic red tape, not locally, but in Tallahassee,” Fried said. “We also need a governor who is working every day to lower our cost of living and raise our standard of living. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
“And it starts with housing affordability.”
Read related: ‘State of the State’ shows Ron DeSantis’ state of mind is not really on Florida
The Sadowski fund issue es una indirecta to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who last year cut the fund in half, diverting $200 million to sewage-treatment and sea-level rise projects, and his line item veto of $225 million from the funding the year before.
Congressman Charlie Crist, a former governor who is also running for the Democrat nomination, also addressed the raid on the Sadowski funds, which DeSantis later denied doing.
“Floridians want leadership that cares about rising prices and affordable housing. So it’s disappointing that Governor DeSantis either doesn’t know the facts or won’t tell the truth,” Crist said in a February statement. “The truth is his policies did cut the Sadowski fund in half last year, and his poor judgement is hurting Floridians.
“His latest effort in this year’s budget does nothing to make up for the housing funding that was eliminated last year. He could have fixed it, but he chose not to. Our state’s affordable housing crisis is real, it’s painful, and it’s not being adequately addressed by our current Governor.”
Sen. Annette Taddeo, another Democrat running for the Dem nomination, has also blasted the Republican governor for not addressing the housing crisis and for approving insurance hikes by a company connected to Communist China.
Read related: Annette Taddeo funding lags far behind Charlie Crist, Nikki Fried in guv’s race
“DeSantis is serving up millions in massive rate hikes paid by Floridians to communist China,” Taddeo said in a statement Tuesday. “If he thinks that’s what ‘freedom’ looks like, there’s some prime coastal real estate in Venezuela I’m sure Maduro would like to sell him.”
You know we’ll see that in mailers this October — no matter which Democrat wins the primary.
Democrats make rising rental rates central to Florida governor’s race added by Ladra on
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