Florida’s Bold Housing Bet Earns Ivory Prize For Breaking Barriers
The Sunshine State outshone all other states' population growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Victory had its rewards – economic growth, new tax revenues, and a deeper, more diverse workforce pool to draw from.
It also came at a cost, one that keeps on taking. Florida housing prices shot up to record levels, putting intense pressure on already challenged affordability.
Florida wasn’t alone. Other Sun Belt states have endured similar housing affordability struggles.
Florida, however, took a bold, aggressive step two years ago with the Live Local Act to address its housing affordability crisis with unprecedented state funding and expanded legal authority to override local zoning restrictions.
To implement the new law, the nonprofit Florida Housing Coalition has been providing technical assistance to 123 governments across the state under a state contract. One hundred and four affordable housing developments, with about 31,400 units, are underway.
For its work, the organization has won the 2025 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability in its Policy and Regulatory Reform category.
We created Ivory Innovations to combat the widening housing affordability gap by recognizing and funding real-world solutions that are addressing this growing crisis," said Clark Ivory, CEO of Ivory Homes and founder of Ivory Innovations. "The 2025 Ivory Prize winners are bringing to market visionary approaches that push the boundaries of what's possible in making housing more affordable. Through collaborative policy reform, groundbreaking construction approaches and innovative financial solutions, these leaders are turning the tide on one of our country's most pressing challenges—housing affordability."
The Ivory Prize began in 2019 with Ivory Innovations, an effort started through the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah to find affordable housing solutions.
While this national recognition highlights Florida's innovative approach, the scale of the state's housing affordability challenge remains immense.
Florida’s Challenge
In 2022, Florida led the nation in domestic migration, adding nearly 319,000 new residents. This population boom fueled a spike in housing demand, with rents in metro areas like Orlando rising by nearly 23% annually at their peak, for example. South Florida had large increases in rent and home prices, as did the Tampa area.
A report in 2023 from The Florida Council of 100, a private nonprofit group of business leaders promoting economic growth, found that 57% of renter households were cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent.
Cost burden was higher than in California and New York. The report also determined that the state had a higher rate of severely burdened renters, those paying 50% or more of their income on rent.
Kody Glazer, FHC’s chief legal and policy officer, said 2023 was a “perfect storm of time and place” for Live Local to emerge and pass.
State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo made affordable housing her main priority. Glazer said Live Local wouldn’t have passed any other year.
She said, ‘This is my bill, get on board or none of your other priorities are to get passed,’” Glazer tells The Builder's Daily.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that committed $711 million, marking the largest single investment in affordable and workforce housing in state history. All told, Glazer says $1.1 billion became available for affordable housing.
The funding infusion targets a surge in housing costs that has left essential workers, from teachers and police officers to nurses and firefighters, struggling to live near their jobs.
The law ensures a robust funding pipeline for affordable housing, including down payment assistance, state apartment loans, and local government partnerships.
What it also does – and this is the hard part – is assert state authority over local zoning.
Key provisions require local governments to permit multifamily and mixed-use residential projects on sites zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use, provided at least 40% of units are affordable for 30 years to households earning up to 120% of the area median income. For mixed-use projects, at least 65% of the square footage must be residential, with the 40% affordable requirement applying to rentals.
The act provides up to a 100% property tax exemption for developments that dedicate a specific number of units as affordable housing, depending on the income level of the tenants.
The latest update, dubbed “Live Local 3.0,” closes loopholes that cities and counties had used to block projects, expands tax exemptions for new and renovated affordable housing, and expedites legal challenges, including up to $250,000 in attorney fees for prevailing parties.
Live Local Progress
One program in the Live Local Act, the Innovative Sales Program, was $150 million in the first year. The money's already gone out the door and assisted over 4,000 homes that are in construction,” Glazer says. “They're all loans, so they're going to be recycled back to the state to fund more homes.”
Glazer notes that there is criticism that the property tax exemption section of the law does too much for those who earn 120% of the area median income, which, for parts of the state, means market-rate housing.
If you look in terms of just the number of homes that have been granted these property tax exemptions, you’re in the tens of thousands,” he says. “I think the next couple of years will start to see developments built because of the property tax exemption. People are applying for projects. I think the legislature's changes during this session will fast-track some projects even more.”
Local Pushback
Despite the state’s efforts, local governments have fought back, citing home rule protections and community concerns over density and height. Some municipalities have denied projects, arguing that the law’s language on density and bonuses is unclear, leading to lawsuits.
In one high-profile case, the owner of Bal Harbour Shops sued the Village of Bal Harbour after it blocked a big mixed-use development that would have exceeded local height restrictions. Other cities, like Hollywood, have faced legal challenges after denying projects that proponents argue should be allowed under the new law.
Nonetheless, “there are jurisdictions that have embraced live local and are just doing their best to follow the law,” Glazer says. “I wouldn't say the majority, but some local governments just want to follow the law and recognize they need new housing at all costs.”
He says that Miami-Dade County has embraced it, noting that about half the Live Local land-use developments in the state have been there. According to his organization’s 2024 research, Miami-Dade had the highest number of cost-burdened households.
With other places, it's a lot trickier because one of our roles is to say what the law requires, versus more discretionary items,” Glazer says.
He adds that he has had varying degrees of success telling local governments that the legislature isn't shy about coming back in future years and preempting them further, and that this is "probably the best you're going to get as a local government."
Glazer says Sarasota, however, is a great model for creating an incentive program that adds housing density to its downtown core. The city didn’t want Live Local to happen, but its program offers more density and height than the law.
About eight developers have used the Sarasota local program, whereas none have used the Live Local Act,” Glazer says. “They are an example of a proactive jurisdiction that made a competing incentive program, and it's worked. So, we've been trying to pitch that around the state, too.”
Glazer notes that the coming year or two will be key to how well Live Local works.
Rent growth has slowed, and home prices have dipped as supply increased and higher interest rates soften demand, but affordability remains out of reach for many.
Some lawmakers who opposed Live Local have noted the positive aspects but warned that implementation will take time, and immediate relief for renters is still lacking.
As Florida’s housing crisis persists, the state’s bold approach, pouring in funding and overriding local resistance, is being closely watched nationwide. The outcome is likely to shape future housing policy debates from coast to coast.
There's still a lot of work to be done, whether at the state or local levels," Glazer says. "Right now, we have some really good momentum in Florida. And now that Live Local passed, more people count affordable housing as a priority than ever on the local policy side."