SWFL Real Estate and Economy

  Part 3: Structural and Design Problems of the Hometown Heroes Program In this article, I examine the structural and design flaws of the Hometown Heroes Program—issues that limit its reach, distort its intended purpose, and reduce its effectiveness in improving housing affordability. While the program aims to assist Florida’s workforce, the way it is structured ultimately restricts access for those who need help most and raises broader questions about policy design. The Structure of the Program Makes Assistance Least Available to Those Who Need It Most Each year since its inception, the Hometown Heroes Program exhausts its funding rapidly, often within months of opening. This pattern reveals a fundamental design issue: the eligibility criteria are too broad, allowing large numbers of less constrained households to qualify for assistance. When generous income caps and occupation-based criteria extend eligibility to upper-middle-income earners, the pool of qualified applican...

     In Part 1, I explained how the Hometown Heroes Program works and who qualifies for assistance. While the program was created with the goal of promoting attainable homeownership for Florida’s workforce, its structure reveals several weaknesses that limit its effectiveness. In practice, the program creates inequities, distorts incentives, and does little to improve overall housing affordability. This article will focus on how the program fails to adequately provide attainable housing from a moral and economic perspective. The next part of this series will examine the structural and design problems of the program, followed by an article that will discuss the real costs of the program.   The Program Leads to Price Inflation First, the Hometown Heroes program exogenously incentivizes homeownership, increasing demand, and thereby increasing the price level holding all else equal. By offering an incentive to potential homebuyers and decreasing the financial barrier...

  Dentists, pharmacists, and nurses who work in Collier County and make less than $170,400 per year can qualify for up to $35,000 in down payment assistance, but others making less money with different jobs can’t.   The Hometown Heroes Program is a down payment assistance program that was created by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in 2022 but is now a part of the Live Local Act. The Live Local Act, passed under Senate Bill 102 in 2023, aims to create attainable housing across Florida. Part one of this series will describe the Hometown Heroes Program, while future parts of the series will uncover the hidden costs of the program as well as its shortcomings.   Here’s how the Hometown Heroes Program works. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation says that the “program provides down payment and closing cost assistance to first-time, income-qualified homebuyers so they can purchase a primary residence in the community in which they work and serve.” The assistance is...

     In continuation of the previous post, this article will examine how the restrictions on accessory dwelling units, various housing typologies, and maximum building heights impact housing affordability. I will also offer a solution that should please both NIMBYs and YIMBYs. We will analyze not only how housing affordability is impacted, but also how society would be better off overall in terms of happiness, in the absence of these policies.  Accessory Dwelling Units   First, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are additional individual dwelling units that exist on an existing improved parcel. Oftentimes, owners of the primary improved structure will rent out an ADU. Still, other times, investors will own the entire property and rent out the main residence and the accessory dwelling unit. Many people wince at the idea of any ADUs entering their neighborhood. They would likely complain about the potential increase in traffic or crime associated with more people liv...

       While there are numerous ways zoning creates an unaffordable housing market, in this article, we will examine parking requirements, setback requirements, and minimum lot sizes. We will analyze these factors from an economic lens while also looking locally at the specifics of the City of Bonita Springs' Zoning Code. You will notice a theme—that many of these factors lead to a reduction in density, which in turn leads to a decrease in affordability. Through these articles, we will also examine how deed-restricted communities can offer housing options that cater to those seeking uniform neighborhoods with stricter rules and regulations, while maintaining a more affordable housing market for everyone, without restricting development opportunities for those who prefer less restrictive housing.      First, it should be mentioned that government intervention, even at the local level, is incredibly inefficient and drives up housing costs. The National A...

       As a recent economics and real estate graduate, now working as an appraiser, I spend time every week reading the zoning codes and comprehensive plans of many local municipalities in Southwest Florida. Now, to be transparent from the get-go, I should disclaim that I have never been a huge advocate for zoning, especially due to its impact on restricting affordable housing. I believe that free markets have more power than local zoning boards to create an affordable future here in Southwest Florida. As we dive deeper, I hope to inform our community about the impact that zoning has on creating affordable housing, and to open the minds of readers that zoning may actually be doing more damage than good. As we take a brief look at the zoning code of the City of Bonita Springs, we will analyze the impact of density bonuses, take a look at the City of Bonita Springs’ Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and wrap up with my opinion regarding why many people may not support the...