The Miami City Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution directing the City Attorney to explore legal options for challenging Florida’s Live Local Act, the 2023 state law that preempts local governments’ zoning authority over certain housing developments that include affordable housing.
The resolution, sponsored by Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, authorizes the City Attorney to analyze the law’s constitutionality and evaluate potential legal claims, including challenges based on municipal home-rule authority, state preemption, due process and equal protection.
The measure does not initiate or authorize a lawsuit but directs the City Attorney to explore potential legal challenges — including joining or supporting litigation brought by other local governments — and report back to the commission.
The Live Local Act has been widely promoted by state officials as a way to spur housing development, but Miami officials, like many of their counterparts in other municipalities, argue the law restricts the city’s ability to implement its comprehensive plan and land development regulations.
Thank you, Commissioner Pardo, for sponsoring item RE-5, which opposes the Live Local Act, one of the worst laws ever passed in the state of Florida, a law which enables huge overdevelopment and harms our quality of life, our neighborhood character and scale, and our already overburdened public infrastructure.
I’ve been speaking out against that law for three years, so it’s great to see the City finally take action.
Everyone, please know there are ways to provide affordable housing without more overdevelopment, including tax exemptions, tax credits, section 8 vouchers or by building dedicated affordable housing projects within the existing zoning. Any under-funding in those programs can and should be addressed directly.
If the State of Florida and the USA were serious about affordable housing they would ban foreign and corporate buyers. That’s the big problem. An analysis from the Miami Association of Realtors found that foreign buyers account for 52 per cent of all new-construction sales across South Florida.