Sarasota County holds workshop on affordable housing; staff to model trust-fund scenarios for December strategic session

Sarasota County commissioners met Oct. 7 for a workshop on affordable housing, hearing presentations from county planning staff, finance staff and the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee about local housing shortages, the state ir—lorida "Live Local" law and funding tools. Commissioners voted unanimously to ask staff to run revenue and program scenarios for a proposed housing trust fund and to bring those analyses back during the board's December strategic planning session.

The workshop focused on two immediate policy questions: how the Live Local Act (a recent change in Florida law that limits local zoning, density and height controls for qualifying affordable projects) will affect development in unincorporated Sarasota County, and how the county can create a recurring, local source of gap financing to leverage federal and state grants.

The matter matters because county staff and community groups said housing cost burdens are widespread and persistent. "A household is cost-burdened when it spends more than 30% of income on housing," Matt Osterhaus, director of Sarasota County Planning and Development Services, told commissioners. Staff presented data showing the area median income (AMI) used for many programs (100% AMI for the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton MSA) was $107,600 in the latest HUD numbers used by the county, and that median rents and sale prices have risen sharply in recent years.

Key facts and immediate takeaways

- Commissioners directed staff to model a local funding approach (the advisory committee—alled it "12a" in its recommendations) that would dedicate a small share of new tax growth or another formula to a local Affordable Housing Trust Fund; Commissioner Knight moved to include the item in the December strategic planning workshop, Commissioner Smith seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The board did not adopt any ordinance or impose new taxes at the meeting.

- County staff summarized the Live Local Act: qualifying multifamily affordable housing proposals that meet the statute—enchmarks (at least 40% of units affordable for a defined period, with affordability definitions going up to 120% of AMI in some circumstances) are reviewed administratively and are preempted from local rezoning, special exception, comprehensive plan amendment, variance and other discretionary entitlements. The statute also limits how counties may restrict density and height for Live Local projects.

- Funding and gap financing: staff and presenters reviewed recent federal and state awards the county has used to subsidize affordable projects, and called those awards the primary current driver of new units. Examples discussed in the workshop included county…