The latest version of the controversial 2023 law makes more land available for Live Local workforce housing projects, including land owned by local governments, school districts, and churches.
While the City of Miami was looking for ways last week to blunt the Live Local Act, the state workforce housing law that lets developers bypass local zoning constraints, Florida’s governor was blessing an expanded version of the controversial law.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1389 on Friday, a day after the City Commission instructed City Attorney George Wysong to “explore and pursue any and all legal avenues” to challenge the 2023 law that trumps Miami’s own zoning code.
The latest version of the law, which makes more land eligible for Live Local projects, may stoke local concerns about the impact of those projects on neighborhoods citywide.
“Live Local is not good for our communities, and we should not abdicate our authority to the state,” Commissioner Chairwoman Christine King said before voting to explore a legal challenge. “It doesn’t take into consideration our historic neighborhoods.”
The Live Local Act has been amended three times, most recently in March when the state Legislature voted to make property owned by counties, cities and school districts eligible for the type of workforce housing projects that the law sanctions.
The latest version of the law also ropes in church properties, if those properties are larger than three acres and include a house of worship that has been on the property for at least 10 years.
Developers who tap Live Local to build taller apartment towers with more housing than local zoning would allow must price 40% of those rental units within reach of families earning no more than 120% of area median income. For a family of three in Miami-Dade County, that was approximately $134,000 in 2025.
State Senator Alexis Calatayud (R-38), whose district includes Coconut Grove and who has been a leading advocate for Live Local in Tallahassee, said the changes made to the law this year will unlock more land for the development of affordable housing.
She cited Miami-Dade County Public Schools as one example.
“I passed legislation that supports school districts and give them choice in helping use some of their surplus land, vacant and underused land, to build teacher housing – not just teachers, but our bus drivers, our lunch ladies and everybody in between,” she told a recent meeting of the Coconut Grove Homeowners and Tenants Association (HOATA).
“And the vision is, you know, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one of the largest landowners in Miami-Dade County. A great deal of that property, a certain amount of the property, is undeveloped entirely,” she added.
There are currently 82 permitted Live Local projects in the City of Miami, including two that are under construction, Miami Planning Director David Snow told the City Commission last week.
Those projects override the city’s Miami 21 zoning code, which he said was carefully calibrated to protect neighborhoods by limiting the height and density of new buildings. “We are losing that transparency that our code currently provides,” Snow said.
King agreed. “I hope our city attorney aggressively – aggressively – advocates for us with respect to Live Local,” she said.
It’s important to note that two of the sponsors of the Live Local Act, Vicki Lopez and Alexis Calatayud, are up for re-election.
Please vote against them, based on their having sponsored and supported the Live Local Act.
Rob Piper is running against Vicki Lopez (and Joe Sanchez, who voted for the $3 Billion Marlins Stadium scam) in Miami-Dade County Commission district 5.
Richard Lamondin is running against Alexis Calatayud in State Senate district 38.
I have spoken to both candidates, and they are both 100% opposed to the Live Local Act.
We have an opportunity at hand.
I will be acting on that opportunity, asking voters to vote for Rob Piper and Richard Lamondin. I urge everyone reading this comment to also do so, and to please help spread the word.
If only J.R.R Tolkien’s army of Ents and Huorns were real, how different our world would look.