Sen. Alexis Calatayud and Rep. Vicki Lopez.
Vicki Lopez and Alexis Calatayud
State representative; state senator at the State of Florida
One of the more consequential recent pieces of legislation in Florida for the real estate industry was the Live Local Act, a law designed to spur workforce housing development by overriding local zoning regulations. It passed and went into effect in 2023.
The most striking part of the law allowed developers to circumvent local zoning restrictions if their projects met the Live Local Standard. That standard allows a developer to build up to the height of any building within 1 mile of their site, if at least 40 percent of planned apartments are rent-restricted.
Rep. Vicki Lopez, who represents the Miami metro in the House, and Sen. Alexis Calatayud of Miami-Dade County proposed the legislation. Both are Republicans serving their first terms in the House and Senate.
“What prompted the Live Local Act is that at some juncture we knew we had to provide more housing stock for front-line workers,” Lopez said. “We understood that in order to do that we would have to preempt local governments.”
Lopez began to see the effects of the COVID-era migration into the state from New York and California, too. “What ended up happening in my district was everything skyrocketed, and it was going on all over in Florida,” Lopez said. Locals couldn’t compete with the deep-pocketed newcomers who were used to paying much higher rents. “The missing middle was the most affected.”
That Included the front-line workers, like firefighters and teachers who worked through the pandemic, but sometimes had to commute upward of two hours to get to their jobs.
The Live Local Act received national attention as it attempted to address NIMBYism with a seemingly simple, but radical solution: ignore it altogether.
Now, the law is back in the legislature, as local municipalities look to soften its blunter edges. Lopez supports the modifications, which would see the 1-mile radius reduced to a half-mile, industrial sites excluded, and some restrictions based on neighboring properties. “I think it’s an enhancement,” she said.
Lopez is also deeply involved in the condo sector, and helped craft the condo reforms that were put in place after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South, some parts of which are coming due this year. This year she’s focused on governance issues on condo boards.
“These are very large pieces of legislation,” Lopez said. “There’s always more to improve.”
