Under Ron DeSantis, Floridians are facing one of the worst affordability crises our state has ever experienced. Gov. DeSantis has been letting Wall Street run amok through Florida neighborhoods, and it’s because of his failure to lead that more Floridians have been paying more and more to live in the communities they’ve spent their whole lives in. It’s just wrong.
Charlie Crist won’t stand idly by as Floridians get squeezed out of their communities and the state they have always called home. Back in January, Charlie was the first to release an Affordable Florida plan to tackle housing affordability by fully funding the Sadowski Trust Fund, expanding down payment assistance programs, and appointing a Housing Czar who will report directly to the governor and support the work of local governments to innovate and meet broad housing affordability goals — but as folks continue to be priced out of their homes Charlie is ready to do more.
That’s why Charlie is proposing a 3-point plan to crack down on the Wall Street practices that are hurting Floridians and driving housing prices to unaffordable levels. Wall Street-backed firms are undermining homeownership, especially in predominantly Black and Hispanic communities in cities and states with weak tenant protections, by buying up single-family homes with all cash offers and converting them to rental properties that price locals out of their own neighborhoods. These firms have been accused of abusing tenants and holding back inventory, constraining supply and further driving up prices for their own gain while Floridians suffer. Wall Street has also stripped homeownership wealth — that would otherwise be generated for middle-class and working Americans — but is now being scraped out of Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and delivered to shareholders. And Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t done a single thing to fix this crisis.
Floridians need leadership now more than ever. That’s why Charlie’s Wall Street Crackdown Plan is about empowering local governments and enforcing reasonable measures that ensure housing gets into the hands of Floridians — not Wall Street firms looking to make a quick buck.
Charlie’s 3-point plan will:
- Build off of his Affordable Florida for All plan and tap in the newly created Housing Czar to help local governments lead the fight against out-of-state, large investment firms, including limits on the number of single-family rental properties these firms can own in a neighborhood and taxing vacant properties owned by non-persons.
- Request a statewide grand jury to crack down on tenant abuse and investigate illegal housing practices, including market manipulation and anti-competitive vertical integration.
- Temporarily but significantly increase Documentary Stamp Tax paid by large, out-of-state investment firms on single-family real estate transactions. Revenues will be dedicated to the Sadowski Fund for housing affordability.
Charlie’s message to Wall Street firms is clear — once he’s elected Florida’s governor, they won’t get away with buying up Florida.
Original source can be found here.
