Analysts: expanding land-value exemption for nonprofit leased housing would be fiscally insignificant under current data

Chicano Providence of the Department of Revenue presented the analysis for House Bill 411 and Senate Bill 48, which would extend an existing property‑tax exemption for nonprofit owners that lease land for long‑term affordable housing to include land leased from local housing finance authorities.

Nut graf: Under current law, subsection 196.11978(1)(b) provides a property‑tax exemption for land owned by a not‑for‑profit and leased for at least 99 years for housing where over 50% of improved square footage serves households earning up to 120% of area median income. The bills add land leased from housing finance authorities (Chapter 159, Part IV) that meet the same occupancy and leasing requirements.

DOR analysts reported 32 parcels currently eligible under the existing exemption across three counties (Polk, Broward and St. Lucie), with a total exemption value of $4,900,725 and a resultant collections figure of $80,187 at current school and non‑school millage rates. The department consulted the Florida Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities and identified 21 local housing finance authorities statewide; Pinellas was the only authority reported to be leasing land to nonprofits at the time of analysis.

Given the current parcel counts and information from housing finance authorities, DOR recommended a “negative insignificant” fiscal impact. Conference members indicated agreement with that classification and the transcript records the conference directing staff to show the item as adopted for the record.

Ending: The bill’s effective date was identified as July 1, 2025, and analysts noted the assumption that the change would affect the 2025 tax roll. Staff will finalize the write‑up to reflect the negative insignificant impact and the conference recorded adoption of that position for the published materials.