Sadowski Funding is Finally Fully Restored!

(March 7, 2020) The magnitude of this victory is immense. We have moved from a total sweep of the housing trust funds just a few years ago— to full appropriation.

This could not and would not have happened without the efforts of the Sadowski Coalition and the thousands of Sadowski Affiliates who have been doing the work to help house Floridians and have shared their stories with legislators.  And of course, the fantastic work of newspaper reporters, the Editorial Boards of every paper in the State, and the many folks who have had opinion pieces printed.  The developers who have invited legislators to grand openings and the Sadowski success stories.

A special shout-out goes to Mark Hendrickson and the Florida Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities who have led the Sadowski Education Effort, paying for the P5 Lobbying Team led by Former Senate President, Ken Pruitt and the Bascom Communications firm.  And an additional shout-out to Trey Price and Stephanie Sutton at the Florida Housing Finance Corporation- they worked incredibly hard to achieve this.

Everyone could not be named in the press release (pasted below) —so in addition to those named, a Big thank you to Habitat for Humanity, Volunteers of America, Florida Impact, and Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops…..  to Florida AARP and LeadingAge…. to the Florida Bankers Association, the Florida Coalition of Affordable Housing Providers (CAHP) the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness, the Florida Retail Federation, the Arc of Florida, Florida United Way, APA Florida, 1000 Friends of Florida, Florida RPCs, and on…

I can’t tell you how many text messages I received today all with the same question “Is this real?”  Folks have seen tweets and posts and can’t believe it’s true.  It is!!!  Never say never- and never give up when you know you’re doing the right thing.

$115,000,000 for FHFC programs
$225,000,000 for SHIP
$30,000,000 for HHRP (hurricane SHIP)

Total of $370,000,000

– Jaimie Ross, President/CEO, Florida Housing Coalition, Facilitator, Sadowski

For Immediate Release                                                      
Saturday, March 7, 2020

Contact:
Sarah Bascom, sarah@bascomllc.com, 850.294.6636
Kelsey Swithers, kelsey@bascomllc.com, 941.400.8183

Sadowski Coalition Statement on the Florida Legislature Fully Funding Affordable Housing 

Tallahassee, Fla. – The Sadowski Coalition – a nonpartisan collection of 32 statewide organizations – today issued the following statement attributed to Jaimie Ross, facilitator of the Sadowski Coalition and president and CEO of the Florida Housing Coalition, regarding the announcement that the Florida House agreed to the Florida Senate’s budget position to use all affordable housing trust fund monies for affordable housing during the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year.

“Today is a momentous day for Florida and all those around the state who are affected by the housing crisis. Governor DeSantis has been a stalwart for affordable housing since taking office, recommending last session and this session that all the housing trust funds are used to create affordable housing in the State of Florida. We also thank Senate President Bill Galvano, Senate Appropriations Chair Rob Bradley and the rest of the Senate for its steadfast support of using all the housing trust fund monies. And this year, we thank House Speaker Oliva and House Appropriations Chair Travis Cummings for agreeing to this position, as well as all the House members who have been so supportive.

“We also owe a great debt of gratitude to all members of the 32 statewide organizations that comprise the Sadowski Coalition, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Realtors, Associated Industries of Florida, and most especially, the efforts of the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties and the thousands of Sadowski affiliates around the state who never stopped urging the Legislature to address the housing crisis by funding Florida’s tried-and-true SHIP and SAIL programs.

“We are relieved to have the Sadowski program funding put to use for Florida’s lower-paid workforce, seniors and special needs populations living on fixed incomes. Most importantly, this should usher in the end of housing trust fund sweeps. Restoring the Sadowski Trust funds to normal operations, where the monies dedicated to affordable housing are appropriated for affordable housing is in Florida’s best interest.  In just this year, full appropriation will mean more than 30,000 jobs and more than $4.4 billion in positive economic impact.”

For more information on the Sadowski Coalition, please visit SadowskiCoalition.org or follow @SadowskiFL.