Florida has a housing affordability problem. That much is true. But what Tallahassee sold you as a solution has turned into one of the greatest developer windfalls in state history — and Wall Street is cashing in.
The Live Local Act, passed in 2023 and significantly expanded in 2025, was pitched as Florida’s boldest attempt to tackle the housing crisis. It allows developers to bypass local zoning restrictions on properties zoned commercial or industrial — as long as at least 40% of units are reserved for affordable or workforce housing. In return, projects receive administrative approval. Local officials can’t require rezoning, public hearings, or planning board votes.
Sounds reasonable on the surface. Until you follow the money.
The Live Local Act incentivizes developers by providing tax exemptions and allowing them to override local control as long as they dedicate 40% of a project’s units as affordable for households that make between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
Read that again. 120% of area median income. In many Florida counties that means a family earning six figures qualifies for “affordable” housing. Meanwhile developers get to build the other 60% of units at full market rate — on land they never could have built on before — with tax exemptions to boot.
As one Fort Lauderdale official put it, “This was a complete handout to the development community. Their lobbyists went to Tallahassee, stripped the existing statute of all the reassurances that a local community would have in trying to address new development, and this gave carte blanche to developers under the ruse that, ‘Oh, you’re building affordable housing.’”
Every time a Florida community found a legal way to protect itself, Tallahassee closed the loophole. The Florida Legislature has amended the Live Local Act in three consecutive sessions — in 2024, 2025, and 2026 — each time closing specific obstruction tactics municipalities developed to resist the prior version.
Here is what they took away from your local government:
The ability to use height restrictions near single family neighborhoods to limit massive developments
The ability to issue temporary moratoriums to pause applications while communities caught their breath
The ability to use setbacks and step-backs to limit building scale
The ability to define what counts as “commercial” land to limit where Live Local applies
The ability to exclude planned unit developments from Live Local eligibility
The ability to use setback, step-back, or other dimensional requirements to effectively reduce allowable building height for Live Local projects
Every single tool your community had. Gone. Session by session. Amendment by amendment. This collectivist consolidation of control also sets the stage for Smart Cities/15 minute cities that globalist have been pushing for years.
Critics say the approach prioritizes speed over planning. “It’s kind of like building something in your neighborhood and you had no say.”
That’s not a bug. That’s the feature.
Here is where it gets personal for Manatee County and FL-16.
Joe Gruters — Florida State Senator, former Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, current Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and husband of congressional candidate Sydney Gruters — voted YES on the Live Local Act at every single stage of the legislative process.
Committee vote — YES. Appropriations vote — YES. Final Senate floor vote — YES. The bill passed the Florida Senate. The fix was in.
And now his wife Sydney Gruters is running for the very congressional seat that represents the communities being paved over by the policies her husband championed. She talks about housing affordability while the law her husband helped pass delivers the exact opposite — handing developers a blank check to build whatever they want, wherever they want, with your community having zero say.
That isn’t a coincidence. That’s a dynasty protecting its interests.
Blackstone and BlackRock — two Wall Street giants that share the same DNA, born from the same founding team — are both now positioned to profit from the policies paving over Florida.
In December 2020, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities acquired a significant stake in SUNZ Holdings, the Bradenton based parent company of SUNZ Insurance. Steve Herrig was CEO of SUNZ at the time of the deal. Blackstone
That same Steve Herrig is now the public face of the Terra Nova development in Myakka — a massive project that will strain Manatee County’s roads, water resources, and infrastructure for decades.
Meanwhile BlackRock Impact Opportunities formed a $500 million joint venture with Greystone Housing Impact Investors to finance the construction and rehabilitation of affordable multifamily housing properties across the US — positioning itself to profit from every unit of “affordable housing” built under laws like Live Local. Ghiinvestors
Two Wall Street firms. Both connected to the machine. Both positioned to profit while your community pays the price.
Now here is where it all comes together.
Steven F. Herrig — CEO of SUNZ Insurance, Blackstone portfolio company, and the public face of the Terra Nova development in Myakka — has made $732,500 in documented political contributions. Here is where that money went:
$311,000 to Ron DeSantis via Empower Parents PAC
$150,000 to the Republican Party of Florida — Joe Gruters’ machine directly and then under RNC
$100,000 to the Florida Freedom Fund —RPOF Joe Gruters control
$25,000 to Jim Boyd
$25,000 to KVO PC -Kevin Van Ostenbridge, also April Culbreath
$5,000 to the Committee to Expose Fake Republicans —Anthony Pedicini’s SIMWINS political corruption consultancy.
See the full list here and click through for yourself:
Transparency USA - Steve Herrig
Now read what Herrig and his team said about the Terra Nova development:
“TerraNova and Miakka Golf have direct access and communication to the state government such as Gov. DeSantis and Attorney General Uthmeier, whom has instructed Manatee County to stand down, so they do not want or need to work within Manatee County guidelines or code enforcement. Everything they have done is permitted through the proper channels and processes and they aren’t doing anything illegally.”
Let that sink in. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is their own statement.
A developer who gave $311,000 to the Governor and $150,000 to the RPOF is now openly boasting that the Attorney General of Florida personally instructed Manatee County to stand down on their development.
That is not how government is supposed to work. That is how a purchased government works.
Connect every dot:
Herrig sells a stake in his company to Blackstone — possible Terra Nova investor
Herrig gives $311,000 to DeSantis and $150,000 to the RPOF
Joe Gruters votes YES on the Live Local Act — stripping local communities of every tool to fight overdevelopment
DeSantis’ AG instructs Manatee County to stand down on Terra Nova
Joe Gruters’ wife Sydney Gruters runs for Congress in the district being developed
The Manatee County Republican Party is shut down and replaced with establishment puppets to silence opposition
When citizens try to attend a public meeting about Terra Nova it goes from open attendance to ID checks to law enforcement to outright cancellation — all in one afternoon
The organizer’s own explanation for the cancellation? “Presumably Eddie would ask questions that we can’t answer.”
They’re right. And I’m not done asking.
Sydney Gruters campaigns on housing affordability while her husband’s legislation handed developers a blank check to build whatever they want wherever they want. That’s not a solution to the housing crisis. That’s the cause of it.
When Wall Street is financing your affordable housing, the only thing guaranteed to be affordable is their return on investment.
The traffic from Terra Nova doesn’t stay in Myakka. The water demand doesn’t stay in Myakka. The infrastructure burden doesn’t stay in Myakka. But the profits? Those leave Florida entirely.
The Live Local Act isn’t affordable housing policy. It’s a wealth transfer mechanism dressed up in the language of compassion — taking your community’s right to self determination and handing it to developers and their Wall Street backers.
The establishment shut down the Manatee County Republican Party to silence this conversation. They buy RPOF endorsements to control who gets elected. They cancel public meetings when the wrong people show up. They vote unanimously for legislation that strips your community of every tool it has to protect itself. And when cornered they brag about having the Governor and Attorney General on speed dial.
This is the swamp. Documented. Named. On the record.
They are not protecting Florida. They are selling it.
I’m running for FL-16 because someone has to say it out loud.
The Trans-agenda has not gone away. —Did you think it would?
Mosaic and their self-regulated conflict of interest.
Thank you. You can help get the word out by following me on social media. We need help financially against the establishment machine, so please consider donating to help us win this fight!
Thank you for your support.
Eddie Speir
Candidate for U.S. Congress, Florida’s 16th District
Founder & Superintendent, Inspiration Academy
If you’re gonna take down a RINO you’re gonna need a Speir. Vote Eddie Speir in the Republican primary on August 18th.
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