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Florida Housing Coalition

Rick Scott’s budget would raid affordable housing trust funds

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Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget would shift nearly 77 percent of the $293.4 million earmarked for low-income housing next year to other state priorities. That works out to $224 million from state and local housing trust funds that won’t go for their intended purpose. State law reserves a portion of the take from documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions for low-income housing. The trust fund total is an estimate reached by state economists in December, and could vary depending on…

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Today on Context Florida: Legislative dysfunction, Jeb & race, public shaming, shrinkage and affordable housing

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Today on Context Florida: The Florida Senate and several communities hoping to receive state money for local projects or programs are unhappy, says Bob Sparks. The public food fight between legislative chambers and the governor was an embarrassment that could have serious ramifications. Florida Republicans are giving the Democratic National Committee a layup of an opportunity to portray both legislative chambers and executive leadership as dysfunctional. All they need are news clips from the past four months. So Jeb! didn’t know.…

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Sadowski Housing Coalition cheers record Florida budget for funding affordable housing

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Affordable housing programs received a significant boost in Florida’s record $79 billion budget passed this afternoon, says Jaimie Ross of the Sadowski Housing Coalition. In a statement issued soon after the House approved the General Appropriations Act of 2015-16, Ross, who serves as organizer of the Sadowski Coalition and president of the Florida Housing Coalition, celebrated the $175 million from Florida’s housing trust funds toward housing. The House passed a last-minute spending plan 96-17 at about 6 p.m., a half-hour…

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Senate panel chairman suggests Amendment 1 backers may have misled voters

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State Sen. Alan Hays on Wednesday sternly informed a Senate subcommittee audience that the Legislature had not neglected the environment in past years, and that Amendment 1 supporters may have misled Florida voters. The ballot initiative, approved by 75 percent of voters in November, provides an estimated $22.6 billion toward water and land conservation over the next 20 years. Hays made the comments while chairing a meeting of the Senate Subcommittee on General Government Appropriations during a discussion of bills…

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The day that was in Florida politics — Feb. 26

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Friday we got another chapter in an on-going series about the ouster of Gerald Bailey. The Tampa Bay Times secured a draft of an opinion piece Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam had prepared last month about the abrupt dismissal of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement director. A spokesperson explained the commentary wasn’t submitted to state newspapers because Putnam was talking to Capitol reporters and suggested publishing it would have been redundant. Former state senator Paula Dockery joined the League of…

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