One Year of the Housing Action Lab (Well, 14 Months — It's a Belated Birthday)

Last June, we launched the Housing Action Lab at the Florida Housing Coalition to be the place to focus more of our staff time and resources on policy advocacy and research, supporting policymakers, builders, industry leaders, and advocates in their efforts to champion affordable housing solutions.

The Housing Action Lab is all about three things:

1. Direct advocacy at the state and local level, including support for partner pro-housing organizations.

2. Data-driven policy research to build momentum and make the case for policy change.

3. Coalition building to bring together Florida’s vast network of housing professionals and advocates around shared policy goals.

First and foremost, I wanted to thank each and every one of you that has subscribed to this Substack and lent your eyes (and in some cases, your wallets) to this effort. Whether it’s been analysis of recently passed legislation, local wins, data dives, or advocacy tools, I really hope this content has been useful. The Florida Housing Coalition exists to be a resource hub for housing professionals and advocates statewide, and I hope that mission comes through in what we publish here.

Team growth. Since launching the Lab, we’ve received strong support from our Partners and Members, allowing us to grow our capacity to advocate for and build the case for affordable housing policy. When I started in this role nearly ten years ago, the Coalition only had two people devoted full-time to policy advocacy (myself and the legendary Jaimie Ross). Today, we have three full-time and three part-time staff on our Policy Team. That growth has meaningfully expanded our statewide impact.

Policy wins. On the policy front, I’m very proud of our work on YIGBY: technical assistance to local governments, builders, and houses of worship statewide; six in-person regional forums; and a new partnership with St. Petersburg. Through the Sadowski Affiliates, we continue advocating for full funding of Florida’s affordable housing programs, and I’m excited to see the continued momentum on policies like the Florida Starter Homes Act aimed at building smaller homes on smaller lots, ADUs, full funding for the Sadowski Trust Funds, and the implementation of the Live Local Act.

Research and advocacy tools. On this Substack, I’m particularly proud of these posts by our team:

• Wis Benoit’s analysis into ADU permitting data in six Florida localities. In a data sharing arrangement with Airbnb, we found that only 3% of permitted ADUs in our dataset were used as short-term rentals. This was the first research I’ve seen in Florida trying to answer the question on how many ADUs are actually used for STRs (spoilers: not many and STRs are not a good reason to stall ADU policies).

• Ali Ankudowich, Wis, and my write-up on a Local Blueprint for Starter Homes, outlining six local policies that can support more starter home building without a state-level Starter Homes Act.

• Ryan McKinless’s ongoing great work tracking the use of the Live Local Act’s land use mandate including this piece in March on early groundbreakings. Of the 18 projects under construction at that time (we’re now up to 24), nine serve households below 80% AMI – well below the 120% AMI Live Local projects are allowed to target. All nine of these developments also received public subsidy, showing that coupling state land use policies with public funding is a winning combination.

• Lowell Atkinson and Wis’ terrific analysis of last session’s TOD bill, with strong visuals on where it would have applied and how other states approach TOD policy. Also Lowell’s piece highlighting St. Pete’s recent win in ditching parking mandates near its bus rapid transit line.

• Ryan’s and my catalogue of Local Affordable Housing Trust Funds in Florida – particularly relevant to the Amendment 3 debate.

I can’t brag too much about the posts I wrote, but I’m partial to these three:

1. YIGBY Goes from Optional to Mandatory in Florida and Keep Up Your Local YIGBY Advocacy! Local Option Covers 4x More Land than New State Mandate (I snuck in two posts here, sorry)

2. Making Housing a Local Campaign Issue: Ten Themes Every Candidate Should Answer

3. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Is Now Law

In Year Two, we’ll keep publishing the content you’ve come to expect: legislative updates, data dives, advocacy tools, and more.

On advocacy, we’ll continue pushing for the reforms Florida needs to make housing more affordable through policies like the Florida Starter Homes Act, legalizing ADUs statewide (third time’s the charm?), state and local density bonus laws, greater use of publicly owned land for permanently affordable homes, support for community land trusts and mission-driven housing nonprofits, resources to ending homelessness, and housing built to withstand future risks.

Amendment 3 looms large over our work. If it passes, it could pose serious threats to the affordable housing industry. Over the coming months, we’ll release survey findings and data on what Amendment 3 would mean for renters, overall affordability, and local housing funding.

Research pipeline. On the data side, we’re preparing for the 2027 legislative session with analysis on minimum lot sizes and single-family zoning statewide (to better inform the Florida Starter Homes Act), possible amendments to Florida’s Growth Management laws, policies supporting Community Land Trusts, density bonuses for affordable housing, and policies tying state funding to housing production.

Policy tracking. We’ll also keep tracking the Live Local Act three years into its implementation, alongside policy tracking on public land use for affordable housing (including school district land), fee policies, parking reform, YIGBY mapping, and the recently passed agricultural enclave bill. Later this Fall, we hope to release a series of policy maps where local advocates can identify housing best practices by locality.

New this year. Later this year, we’ll be doing more on the local advocacy front and launch a Pro-Housing Advocates Exchange where local housing advocates can meet virtually to build relationships, exchange practical tools and best practices, and learn from others advancing affordable housing work across Florida

If there’s a policy area you think we should be doing more on, or a priority you’d want to see at the state or local level, let me know. I’m always glad to talk housing policy and help elevate good ideas.

Surprise, housing is still unaffordable to low-income and working class Floridians. We’ll keep at it, through advocacy, data support, and coalition building, to raise the bar on the policies needed to ensure everyone in Florida has access to an affordable home of their choosing.

If you’d like to partner with the Housing Action Lab financially, commission policy work, or support our efforts in other ways, please let me know!

Thanks again to all of you who are committed to making Florida more affordable.