By Noreen Marcus, FloridaBulldog.org
Critics of a state law to boost affordable workforce housing claim it’s really a Big Builder welfare act intended to prevent local governments from vetting private-interest projects on behalf of the public.
And while the “Live Local” law and less government oversight may have merit in theory, in fact they’re obstacles to meeting an urgent need for economical housing, the critics say.
“It’s like a runaway train right now for the developers,” Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich, a former state legislator, told Florida Bulldog. She said when Live Local became law in 2023, “there were some good ideas. If they hadn’t moved over too far to the developers’ side, it would have been great.”
The law lets builders bypass local zoning restrictions on density, height and usage for residential projects. In exchange, they must rent 40 percent of their units to households earning no more than 120 percent of the area’s median income and they must maintain the units as rentals for 30 years. Target renters are teachers, first responders and other essential workers.
But a spokesperson for Broward teachers says: No thanks.
“Live Local is just a way for big builders to get in and once they’re in, they know they can’t be stopped,” said Anna Fusco, president of the 10,000-member Broward Teachers Union.
She mocked the idea that teachers “will have to have roommates” to afford studio apartments – renting for an estimated $2,600 – in the planned Portofino Hollywood condo building at 1301 S. Ocean Dr. This Related Group project is slated for a public beachfront site now occupied by a community center/library and Harry Berry Park.
Fusco responded to rumors that Portofino will have two-tiered amenities and a “poor door” entrance for workforce renters by saying, “I don’t even know where that thought process came from. It’s insulting.” Condo owners, who presumably would use a fancier entrance, will pay market-rate prices in the millions.
LIVE LOCAL TESTED IN COURT
Hillsborough County (Tampa) officials and Portofino opponents are pursuing separate court actions that take on Live Local directly and indirectly.
Hillsborough’s lawsuit attacks the Live Local law directly by asking a Tallahassee state court judge to find the law unconstitutional because it overrides county zoning rules.
That conflict has the county “caught between a rock and a hard place,” the lawsuit says. Hillsborough, one of the nation’s biggest urban sprawls with 3,000 planned developments, had at least 17 pending applications for Live Local projects, according to the lawsuit.
In Broward County, the nonprofit Keep Public Lands Public and Kathleen DiBona, who lives near the community center Portofino would replace, sued Related and the City of Hollywood in circuit court last month.
The plaintiffs are trying to derail the Portofino train, saying it violates a deed restriction and clashes with city and county long-range plans – plus it must win public approval in a referendum and the city refuses to hold one.
Led by Mayor Josh Levy, a majority of the Hollywood City Commission strongly supports Related’s beach tower, known as the 1301 project. Final design details are sketchy but the Portofino condo would rise 27 stories or higher.
Levy claims the city’s 99-year leasing deal and partnership with Related will produce an economic bonanza for Hollywood.
“It’s eye-popping to see all the financial benefits,” he said at a Feb. 26 hearing of the Broward County Planning Council. The council rejected his position anyway.
The mayor discredits widespread opposition from residents and other elected officials including Broward County Commissioners Beam Furr and Nan Rich. Furr called for an environmental impact study of the 1301 project site and on March 31 the county commission postponed a crucial rezoning vote to August.
Rich said last week she already opposes putting the condo tower on the fragile barrier island home of the park and low-rise community center. “I just do not support allowing public property to be used for building on barrier islands and evacuation routes for hurricanes and emergencies.”
RELATED’S LAWYER: GAME OVER
“The Hollywood City Commission should be paying attention,” Rich said. “They’re not representing the people and there are elections coming up.”
“We’re having an affordability crisis, it’s the subject of every campaign for 2026,” she said. “There needs to be statewide legislation that doesn’t focus on solving problems for developers but solving the problems of Floridians who need affordable housing.”
And yet a desire to end the logjam over Portofino in favor of the influential Related Group helps explain the fourth version of Live Local that took effect July 1.
The latest version looks tailor-made to fit the 1301 project in that it expands the list of acceptable Live Local housing locations to include land owned by cities, counties and school districts. Hollywood controls the 1301 project site through a 1974 deed that limits the property’s use to “open space, park, recreation and public purpose.”
And Live Local comes with a built-in threat: If anyone sues a workforce housing developer and loses, the loser is liable for the developer’s attorney fees, which can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Keith Poliakoff, Related’s lawyer for the 1301 project, gloated about Gov. Ron DeSantis approving Live Local 4.0 — he called it “Related’s bill” — in a June 27 social media post.
“Breaking news late yesterday Related’s bill passes finally bringing this long saga to the end. Game Over,” Poliakoff wrote on Hollywood Beach TV’s Facebook page. The developer first proposed the 1301 project to the city six years ago.
An international real estate development company based in Miami, Related boasts a portfolio valued at more than $40 billion. Attorney fees are just a cost of doing business at that level.
Still, when Keep Public Lands Public filed suit, Poliakoff savored the prospect of forcing the nonprofit to pay Related’s attorney fees in remarks to the Sun Sentinel.
“It’s going to be interesting to see who is getting stuck holding the bag for the attorneys’ fees,” Poliakoff told the newspaper. “This case will be dismissed faster than the ink dried on the filing and we are not going to hesitate to collect the fee judgment that we are about to obtain.”
Apparently, he was wrong on two counts. The case was filed June 22 and it still hasn’t been dismissed. Also, the game isn’t over.
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