State Sen. Mike Bennett is a true champion. State Rep. Gary Aubuchon is a housing hero. And Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink? A defender of the common man.
That's according to the Sadowski Housing Coalition, a nonpartisan group of organizations dedicated to affordable housing. The coalition is pushing bills that would repeal a cap on a housing trust fund, which was established in 1992 and funnels money toward affordable housing.
The trust fund is capped at about $243 million. But Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, and Aubuchon, a Cape Coral Republican, are pushing legislation to do away with that limit.
In turn, the Sadowski Housing Coalition will honor them with Housing Champion Awards today during a news conference. Other state officials being recognized at the event, including Sink and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, will receive what the organization calls Stand Up for Housing Awards.
Cash flows into the trust fund thanks to the documentary stamp tax paid on the transfer of Florida real estate. The money is then divided between a state trust fund, which gets about 30 percent of it, and a local fund, which receives the other 70 percent.
The trust fund was capped in 2005 as part of a legislative compromise, and the cap went into effect in 2007. Since then, lawmakers have been scrambling to undo it but to no avail.
This year, though, proponents of the measure are optimistic.
"I think chances are very good," said Wellington Meffert, general counsel for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, adding that leadership figures in the House and Senate have voiced their support.
Both the House and Senate bills, Meffert said, are progressing nicely. Bennett's bill, SB 262, passed the Senate's Finance and Tax Committee on Tuesday.
This is the first year the Sadowski Housing Coalition has honored lawmakers with awards for their efforts. Its news conference will be held at 12:45 p.m. today on the back steps of the Old Capitol Building.
