April 2013 Archives
Jaimie Ross: Florida Legislature must use housing trust funds for housing
April 1, 2013 | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
This year, the Legislature faces no budget deficit and a recovering economy that has generated an estimated $200 million in Sadowski state and local housing trust funds ($53.40 million for state programs, like SAIL, and $151.41 million for SHIP), as well as an Attorney General settlement that has brought $200 million in bank settlement funds to be appropriated for housing-related activities.
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EDITORIAL: Struggling homeowners stiffed by Florida Legislature
Florida’s Legislature is once again planning to violate the public trust by raiding the trust fund established to create more affordable housing, diverting $200 million to such priorities as teacher pay raises and health care. At the same time, lawmakers plan to spend $200 million from the state’s share of a national mortgage settlement over bank foreclosure and mortgage abuses on things other than aid to struggling homeowners — its intended purpose.
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EDITORIAL: Renew commitment to affordable housing
For four years, Florida lawmakers unwilling to have broader discussions about raising revenue have used the same excuse to undercut the state’s longtime commitment to affordable housing: Cash-strapped state budgets required them to raid affordable housing programs to cover other general government needs. Now it’s a habit Republican leaders apparently aren’t willing to break — and the House is even hiding behind the ill-gotten gains of the nation’s biggest banks to do so. With the state’s finances improved, it’s time to restore Florida’s commitment to affordable housing.
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EDITORIAL: Trust fund distrust: Give more public scrutiny to big-dollar ‘sweeps’
When you make a promise, keep it — especially when it involves taxpayers’ money. This simple rule is one legislators conveniently forget when they balance the state budget by dipping into trust funds that were set up for other purposes. Like azaleas blooming on the Capitol grounds, it’s one of Tallahassee’s enduring spring rituals — but not so pretty.
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EDITORIAL: Keeping the trust
When you make a promise, keep it — especially when it involves taxpayers’ money. This simple rule is one legislators conveniently forget when they balance the state budget by dipping into trust funds that were set up for other purposes. Like azaleas blooming on the Capitol grounds, it’s one of Tallahassee’s enduring spring rituals — but not so pretty.
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Despite tax-fattened coffers, lawmakers still raid housing fund
TALLAHASSEE – Despite a cash-flush budget that has policymakers considering a grab-bag of corporate and stadium incentives, Florida lawmakers are still raiding a fund created two decades ago to help provide low-income housing.
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Perspective: Restore affordable-housing funds
We’ve seen this sleight of hand before. Two decades ago, state legislators used money from the Florida Lottery to supplant education funding — not, as they had promised, to supplement it.
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Florida legislature set to approve $200M mortgage settlement spending plan
The settlement was announced more than a year ago, but it took months for the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and Attorney General Pam Bondi to reach agreement over who would have the final say over how the money would be spent.
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