Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 1714 By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senators Burton and Arrington 578-03103-25 20251714c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to local housing assistance plans; 3 amending s. 420.9072, F.S.; authorizing counties and 4 eligible municipalities to expend certain funds on lot 5 rental assistance for mobile home owners for a 6 specified time period; amending s. 420.9075, F.S.; 7 requiring each county and eligible municipality to 8 include in its local housing assistance plan certain 9 strategies; providing that lot rental assistance for 10 eligible mobile home owners is an approved home 11 ownership activity for certain purposes; authorizing 12 counties and eligible municipalities to provide 13 certain funds to mobile home owners for rehabilitation 14 and emergency repairs; deleting a provision limiting 15 to a specified percentage the amount of certain funds 16 that may be used for manufactured housing; amending s. 17 420.9071, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference; 18 providing an effective date. 19 20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 21 22 Section 1.Paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of section 23 420.9072, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 24 420.9072State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program.The 25 State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program is created for the 26 purpose of providing funds to counties and eligible 27 municipalities as an incentive for the creation of local housing 28 partnerships, to expand production of and preserve affordable 29 housing, to further the housing element of the local government 30 comprehensive plan specific to affordable housing, and to 31 increase housing-related employment. 32 (7) 33 (b)A county or an eligible municipality may not expend its 34 portion of the local housing distribution to provide ongoing 35 rent subsidies, except for: 36 1.Security and utility deposit assistance. 37 2.Eviction prevention not to exceed 6 months rent. 38 3.Lot rental assistance for mobile home owners as defined 39 in s. 723.003, not to exceed 6 months rent. 40 4.A rent subsidy program for very-low-income households 41 with at least one adult who is a person with special needs as 42 defined in s. 420.0004 or homeless as defined in s. 420.621. The 43 period of rental assistance may not exceed 12 months for any 44 eligible household. 45 Section 2.Paragraphs (d) through (g) of subsection (3) of 46 section 420.9075, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as 47 paragraphs (e) through (h), respectively, a new paragraph (d) 48 and paragraph (i) are added to subsection (3) of that section, 49 and paragraph (c) of subsection (3) and paragraphs (a), (c), 50 (e), and (n) of subsection (5) are amended, to read: 51 420.9075Local housing assistance plans; partnerships. 52 (3) 53 (c)Each county and each eligible municipality is 54 encouraged to develop a strategy within its local housing 55 assistance plan that addresses the needs of persons who are 56 deprived of affordable housing due to the closure of a mobile 57 home park or the conversion of affordable rental units to 58 condominiums. 59 (d)Each county and each eligible municipality shall 60 include in its local housing assistance plan a strategy that 61 addresses the needs of persons who are deprived of affordable 62 housing due to the closure of a mobile home park. 63 (i)Each county and each eligible municipality shall 64 include in its local housing assistance plan a strategy for 65 providing program funds to mobile home owners, as defined in s. 66 723.003, which must include lot rental assistance. 67 (5)The following criteria apply to awards made to eligible 68 sponsors or eligible persons for the purpose of providing 69 eligible housing: 70 (a)At least 65 percent of the funds made available in each 71 county and eligible municipality from the local housing 72 distribution must be reserved for home ownership for eligible 73 persons. For purposes of this paragraph, lot rental assistance 74 for eligible mobile home owners as defined in s. 723.003 is an 75 approved home ownership activity. 76 (c)At least 75 percent of the funds made available in each 77 county and eligible municipality from the local housing 78 distribution must be reserved for construction, rehabilitation, 79 or emergency repair of affordable, eligible housing. Funds may 80 be provided to mobile home owners as defined in s. 723.003 for 81 rehabilitation and emergency repairs under this paragraph. 82 (e)Not more than 20 percent of the funds made available in 83 each county and eligible municipality from the local housing 84 distribution may be used for manufactured housing. 85 (m)(n)Funds from the local housing distribution not used 86 to meet the criteria established in paragraph (a) or paragraph 87 (c) or not used for the administration of a local housing 88 assistance plan must be used for housing production and finance 89 activities, including, but not limited to, financing 90 preconstruction activities or the purchase of existing units, 91 providing rental housing, and providing home ownership training 92 to prospective home buyers and owners of homes assisted through 93 the local housing assistance plan. 94 1.Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a) and 95 (c), program income as defined in s. 420.9071(26) may also be 96 used to fund activities described in this paragraph. 97 2.When preconstruction due-diligence activities conducted 98 as part of a preservation strategy show that preservation of the 99 units is not feasible and will not result in the production of 100 an eligible unit, such costs shall be deemed a program expense 101 rather than an administrative expense if such program expenses 102 do not exceed 3 percent of the annual local housing 103 distribution. 104 3.If both an award under the local housing assistance plan 105 and federal low-income housing tax credits are used to assist a 106 project and there is a conflict between the criteria prescribed 107 in this subsection and the requirements of s. 42 of the Internal 108 Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the county or eligible 109 municipality may resolve the conflict by giving precedence to 110 the requirements of s. 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 111 as amended, in lieu of following the criteria prescribed in this 112 subsection with the exception of paragraphs (a) and (f) (g) of 113 this subsection. 114 4.Each county and each eligible municipality may award 115 funds as a grant for construction, rehabilitation, or repair as 116 part of disaster recovery or emergency repairs or to remedy 117 accessibility or health and safety deficiencies. Any other 118 grants must be approved as part of the local housing assistance 119 plan. 120 Section 3.Subsection (27) of section 420.9071, Florida 121 Statutes, is amended to read: 122 420.9071Definitions.As used in ss. 420.907-420.9079, the 123 term: 124 (27)Recaptured funds means funds that are recouped by a 125 county or eligible municipality in accordance with the recapture 126 provisions of its local housing assistance plan pursuant to s. 127 420.9075(5)(i) s. 420.9075(5)(j) from eligible persons or 128 eligible sponsors, which funds were not used for assistance to 129 an eligible household for an eligible activity, when there is a 130 default on the terms of a grant award or loan award. 131 Section 4.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.