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LIVE LOCAL DASHBOARDS

Track, Analyze, Understand: Where and How the Live Local Act Land Use Mandate is Being Used

The Florida Housing Coalition’s Live Local dashboards are the first interactive tools of their kind to track and evaluate proposed developments statewide using the Live Local Act (LLA) land use mandate. These dashboards help the public, policymakers, and practitioners see where the Act may be applied, how many affordable and market-rate homes are proposed, and whether these sites are suitable for residential development based on proximity to community assets and buffers from disamenities. 

Section 1: What is the Live Local Act Land Use Mandate?

The Live Local Act, signed into law in 2023, created a powerful land use mandate allowing eligible multifamily and mixed-use affordable housing developments to override local zoning in commercial, industrial, and mixed-use areas. 


To qualify, a development must: 

  1. Be an area zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use 
  2. Set aside at least 40% of the residential units as affordable rental homes for households up to 120% AMI for 30 years 
  3. Be multifamily or mixed-use, with at least 65% of the building used for residential purposes (if mixed-use) 

Qualified projects are entitled to: 

  1. Certain use, density, height, and floor area ratio allowances  
  2. Reduced or eliminated parking requirements based on proximity to transit and nearby parking 
  3. Administrative approval if the project meets local multifamily regulations and is consistent with the comprehensive plan (excluding density, floor area ratios, height, parking in certain cases, and land use)

Section 2: Introducing the Dashboards: A Data-Driven Look at the Live Local Landscape

The Florida Housing Coalition created these dashboards to:

 

  1. Show the number of proposals to use the Live Local Act land use mandate statewide
  2. Highlight the number of proposed homes, with breakdowns by affordability
  3. Map where proposals are happening and which zoning categories they fall into
  4. Evaluate how suitable each proposed development site is for housing, based on a comprehensive location scoring model 
The goal? To provide transparency, inform future policy discussions, and help stakeholders understand how this transformative law is shaping Florida’s housing future.

Section 3: Location Scoring — Our Methodology

Of the total proposed developments we’re tracking, we evaluated the first 89 projects we identified through February 2025 to understand: 

  1. Are projects located in places close to important amenities like schools, parks, retail, and transit?
  2. Are projects distanced from disamenities like industrial areas and flood zones? 

Each location received a comprehensive score based on:

 

  1. Access to community amenities 
  2. Buffers from industrial and flood-prone areas 
  3. Number, density, and diversity of jobs in the surrounding area 

For more information on our methods and findings, read our full report below. 

Download the Report

Section 4: Key Takeaways

  1. Most projects are in areas suitable for housing — close to schools, transit, and grocery stores. 
  2. 70% are near industrial land uses, a closer look at these uses near a sample of projects show that many of the nearby industrial uses are unlikely to negatively impact health and safety. 
  3. Proposals are clustered in urban areas, especially Miami-Dade County, which accounts for over 50% of all known LLA projects. 
  4. The tool reveals an overall pattern of responsible development, but with a few notable exceptions. 

Section 5: Explore the Dashboards

Live Local Act Mapping Dashboard

Use our general Live Local Act Mapping Dashboard to:

1. Browse development proposals across Florida
2. Filter by zoning, county, and number of affordable units
3. View summary statistics of the proposed developments, such as total number of proposed units and more

This dashboard is updated regularly with additional projects as they are identified. 

View the Dashboard

Scoring Live Local Dashboard

Use the Scoring Live Local dashboard to:

1. View proximity of proposed developments to different individual amenities/disamenities
2. View total local suitability scores for each site

This dashboard is intended as a “snapshot” analysis of location suitability; it may be periodically updated with analysis of additional proposed projects and scores. 

View the Dashboard

Section 6: Policy Implications 

Live Local is mostly being used responsibly, with many projects located near key amenities, with some lacking ready access to transit. However, many projects are near industrial sites, requiring further study to understand potential health and safety impacts across the proposed developments.

Policymakers may consider: 

  1. Excluding sites near active heavy industrial uses 
  2. Requiring health impact assessments for questionable locations 
  3. Allowing more flexibility for projects targeting 80% AMI or below 
  4. Giving local governments a limited ability to exclude select parcels 

Email Your Submissions

Contact: Kody Glazer
Email: glazer@flhousing.org

Email Kody

Section 7: Have a Project to Submit? Want to Learn More?

If you are aware of a Live Local Act development not currently shown on the Live Local Act Mapping Dashboard, please reach out. We welcome submissions from developers, advocates, and local governments. All submissions are vetted before inclusion.  

Additionally, we are happy to discuss the Live Local Act in more depth or the research on our page. Please contact Kody Glazer, Chief Legal and Policy Officer for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

It allows affordable housing developments that meet key criteria to override local zoning rules in commercial, industrial, or mixed-use areas. These developments are also eligible for favorable land use entitlements related to use, density, floor area ratio, height, parking in certain cases, and administrative approval.

  1. Located in an area zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed-use 
  2. 40% of residential units reserved as affordable rentals (serving households within incomes up to 120% AMI) 
  3. Must be multifamily or mixed-use, with 65% of the total square footage for residential use (if mixed-use) 

To provide a clear, data-backed view of where the Live Local Act land use mandate is being used and how suitable these sites are for residential development. 

The Florida Housing Coalition, as part of its land use and housing policy research work. The general project dashboard is updated continuously as new projects are identified. The location scoring dashboard and summary analysis, intended as more of a snapshot, may be updated periodically as additional projects and scores are identified. 

Email glazer@flhousing.org with basic information about the project. If it qualifies under the Live Local Act, we’ll follow up to add it to the general project dashboard. 

No. These are proposed developments at various stages. Some may not be approved or completed, but they provide an important snapshot of trends. 

Administrative approval allows a qualifying project to move forward without certain additional discretionary approvals (e.g., a land use amendment, a rezoning), as long as it meets the Live Local criteria and is consistent with the local comprehensive plan (excluding use, density, height, parking in certain cases, and floor area ratio). Local governments must post these approval expectations publicly. 

The general Live Local Act Mapping Dashboard:  

  1. Map of proposed developments using the Live Local land use mandate 
  2. Proposed development details, such as number of units and zoning of underlying land 
  3. Summary statistics of proposed developments, such as total number of proposed units 

The Scoring Live Local Dashboard: 

  1. Location scores of proposed projects based on access to amenities and buffers from disamenities 
  2. Visuals of project proximity to individual amenities and buffers from disamenities 

As of early 2025, the largest number of proposals have come from: 

  1. City of Miami 
  2. Miami-Dade County 
  3. Miami Beach 
  4. Hillsborough County 
  5. Fort Lauderdale 

They reflect proposed developments at various stages — from early applications to approved site plans. Not all will be built, but they provide valuable insight into how and where the law is being used. 

Suitability is based on: 

  1. Proximity to amenities (like schools, grocery stores, parks, transit, healthcare) 
  2. Buffers from disamenities (like flood zones and industrial areas) 
  3. Employment access (job availability, density, and diversity)  

Each site is scored using a comprehensive point system calculated from public datasets. 

  1. Most projects are in suitable areas — close to key services and amenities; some projects lack transit access. 
  2. Many projects are near industrial uses, yet a closer study of sample projects with top and bottom location scores shows that most nearby industrial uses are unlikely to harm health and safety of nearby residents or have likely converted to non-industrial uses; this requires further study across all the proposed developments. 
  3. Modest policy changes could improve outcomes. 
  4. The land use mandate is mainly being used in South Florida — over half of the tracked projects are in Miami-Dade County. 

Currently, local governments have limited ability to restrict the use of the Live Local land use mandate. However, under current law, other than policies aimed at the mandated entitlements (e.g., density, height, floor area ratio, parking in certain cases, and administrative approval) and additional limitations stated in the Act, Live Local land use projects still must comply with all other state and local laws – this includes setback requirements, open space, concurrency, and environmental regulations.