No. SB 1548
Filed under Local Government.
Affordable Housing; Requiring counties and municipalities, respectively, to authorize certain residential use on property owned by a county, municipality, or school district under certain circumstances; revising the definition of the term “person”; revising a prohibition on discriminatory practices in land use decisions and in permitting of development to include housing that is affordable; waiving the state’s sovereign immunity for certain causes of action based upon housing discrimination, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCounties, municipalities, and school districts must now allow affordable multifamily development on land they own, even if it isn't zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use -- as long as the government is a party to the application.
Local governments can no longer use setback or stepback rules to restrict a project's buildable envelope once its statutory height preemption already applies to it.
Pending applicants can choose to finish under the old rules or submit a revised application, if they notify the county or municipality by July 1, 2026.
Housing discrimination based on a project's affordable-housing financing is now explicitly illegal, and the state waives its sovereign immunity so people can sue over it.
AIThe mandatory-authorization list, which previously covered land zoned commercial, industrial, or mixed use, now also covers any property owned by a county, municipality, or school district -- with no zoning condition attached -- as long as the project meets the 40-percent-affordable standard, sits within that government's boundaries, and the government is a party to the application.
AIBeyond the existing rule that local governments cannot cap a project's height below the area's highest allowed height (or three stories), they now also cannot achieve the same result through setback or stepback rules stricter than the underlying zoning's own minimums.
AIThe existing ban on discriminating in land-use and development-permitting decisions based on a project's source of financing is expanded to explicitly include financing for housing that is affordable as defined in state law.
AIThe state, its agencies, and its political subdivisions waive sovereign immunity for civil actions brought under this section's housing-discrimination remedies, though the waiver reaches only actions filed under this specific section.
AIAn applicant who filed an application, written request, or notice of intent before July 1, 2026, may notify the county or municipality by that date to continue under the version of the law in effect when they applied, or instead submit a revised application reflecting this act's changes.
AIDevelopment under these affordable-housing provisions is still barred near runways and other airport-adjacent areas by default, but that exclusion no longer applies if the governing body of the airport approves the specific application.
AIThe term 'person' under the Florida Fair Housing Act definitions is expanded to expressly include agencies, governmental entities, and other legal or commercial entities, alongside the individuals, corporations, and trusts already listed.
AIFarms and farm operations, and uses associated with them such as packaging and selling what is raised on the premises, are declared not to be commercial use or industrial use under both the county and municipal affordable-housing statutes.