Let housing dreams live

Not many issues can unite Florida's bankers, Realtors and home builders, a leading conservation group and the Florida Catholic Conference. On the issue of affordable housing, however, they are together on the right cause.

Since 1992, the state has collected a 20-cents-per-$1,000 fee on real-estate transactions. The money goes into a trust fund to help less affluent Floridians buy houses, usually by helping them make the down payment. Estimates are that the State Housing Incentive Program has helped 150,000 families.

With the price of existing homes having increased 71 percent statewide during that time -- more in South Florida -- the trust fund has become even more important. Yet House Bill 1889 would cap the fund at $193 million. The state would keep collecting the fee, but the Legislature, in effect, would raid the fund and use the money for other purposes, such as cutting taxes for the wealthy.

The Workforce Housing Coalition, consisting of the aforementioned groups, says the House cap could keep 9,500 families a year from home ownership. It suggests a limit of $331.7 million, with annual increases based on the cost of living. Since cities, counties and business groups all are worried about workers being priced out of areas, there should be no limit on a program that has been proven to help solve the problem. Instead, there seems no limit on the Legislature's determination to ignore what works and, in the process, make life harder for the working Floridians it claims to represent.