An affordable housing developer run by a top Republican donor wrote a bill making it easier to raise rents, records show
The chairman of The Vestcor Companies met personally with a key senator and aides to Gov. Ron DeSantis
This is Seeking Rents, a newsletter devoted to producing original journalism — and lifting up the journalism of others — that examines the many ways that businesses influence public policy across Florida, written by Jason Garcia.
Legislation that would make it easier to convert publicly subsidized housing for low-income tenants into higher-priced, market-rate apartments and condos was written by lobbyists for a for-profit affordable housing developer led by a major Republican Party donor, records show.
Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Republican from Miami, had the controversial provision added on to what had been a broadly popular affordable housing bill (SB 196) during a Senate committee meeting earlier this month.
Emails obtained through a public-records request show Rodriguez got the language from lobbyists for The Vestcor Companies, a Jacksonville-based developer of apartment and condo complexes that frequently builds affordable housing projects subsidized with state and federal tax breaks. Lobbyists for Vestcor also provided Rodriguez with talking points, some of which she read word-for-word while presenting the amendment during the Feb. 2 hearing.
The day before that hearing, Rodriguez met with Vestcor Chairman John Rood, who is one of the largest Republican donors in Florida. In the month leading up to session, records show Rood gave a combined $200,000 to fundraising committees controlled by three of Florida’s highest-ranking GOP leaders: Senate President Wilton Simpson, incoming Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Rood told Nate Monroe of the Florida Times-Union that he also met with aides to DeSantis about the legislation. Rood also said a revised version of the bill is in the works that Rood said would address concerns raised by affordable housing advocates, thought nothing has been filed yet in public.
Advocates warn that Vestcor’s original proposal could lead to the premature loss of as many as 40,000 low-income apartments across Florida, at a time when the state already has a dire shortage of affordable housing and both rents and home prices are skyrocketing.
Broadly speaking, developers of affordable housing projects use federal and tax breaks to help finance construction. In exchange for those public subsidies, they must agree to keep rents affordable for low-income tenants for as long as 50 years.
But there is an escape hatch. After 14 years, the owners of certain affordable housing developments can inform the state that they want to sell. The state then has one year to find someone willing to buy the development – at a price determined by a formula enshrined in a 30-year-old federal law.
If the state finds a buyer willing to pay that price, the owner of the development then decides whether they really want to sell – but either way, the development must remain affordable.
But if the state can’t find a buyer, then the affordability restrictions are lifted – and the owner can start charging much higher rents.
Advocates say housing developers are increasingly exploiting this process, because the pricing formula is outdated and usually leads to above-market asking prices. The legislation written by Vestcor would make it even more difficult for the state to find buyers by imposing additional conditions and requirements.
Vestcor isn’t the only company lobbying for the changes: The emails show that an executive at another for-profit affordable housing developer, Winter Park-based Atlantic Housing Partners, helped prepare the talking points that Rodriguez read from when she presented the idea to the Senate’s Transportation, Tourism & Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
In an emailed statement, Rodriguez said she wants to “increase developer activity in affordable housing.” She also said the claim that up to 40,000 affordable housing units could be prematurely lost “is a misnomer and falsehood.”
“We work closely with all stakeholders routinely, including affordable housing developers, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, and affordable housing advocates. This time is no different,” Rodriguez added. “We will also continue to solicit stakeholder feedback and will tinker with the legislation as needed to get it to a good place that helps us achieve the goal of unlocking more affordable housing developments in the near term.”
It's not yet clear what changes Vestcor lobbyists and other “stakeholders” are negotiating. No amendment has been filed yet, and all of the discussions are happening in private.
