Housing

This is a bill about housing that, if passed, will create a new part of Florida law, and change a couple other parts about housing. 

This bill:

• Defines important words: 

  • “Consumer report”: any written, spoken, or other sharing of information by a consumer reporting agency that affects a person’s credit, general reputation, or way of living.

  • “Consumer reporting agency”: any person who makes money putting together or checking on people's credit information to create summaries for other customers.

  • “Reusable tenant screening report”: a report that includes: 

    • The person’s full name.

    • The person’s contact info

    • Proof that the person has a job

    • The last place the person has lived

    • A check on if the person has ever been kicked out of their house because they couldn’t pay.

    • An expiration date for the information

    • The person’s consumer report.

    • And:

      • Is made within 30 days by a consumer reporting agency after being asked and paid for by the person

      • Is made available to a landlord to use in the application to live in their property.

        • Landlord: a person or company who rents a property, like a house or apartment, that they own, to someone else for a certain amount of money each month. 

      • Or is provided through a different website that provides this service and follows the law.

      • Is available to the landlord for free.

• Allows landlords to use reusable tenant screening reports and requires certain paperwork.  

• Stops landlords from charging people applying for places to live for certain things using reusable tenant screening reports.  

• Makes local leaders to pass an official rule by a certain date that lets landlords have accessory dwelling units in certain places.

  • Accessory dwelling units: a second house on a space for one main house that has its own complete living space, including a kitchen and bathroom.

  • Says these official rules should apply moving forward.  

• Gets rid of needing specific paperwork to build an accessory dwelling unit. 

• Changes how accessory dwelling units count toward parts of a local government's plan.  

• Allows for more homestead exemptions

  • Homestead exemption: A legal option that gives people who own a house a way to pay less taxes on the house they own and live in.

• Taxes rented accessory dwelling units apart from the main house based on how it’s used.  

• Lets local governments offer extra money to people who own land and donate certain land to give cheaper housing to families with people in the military.  

• Requires the office in charge of doing research for the group that makes laws in Florida to look at: 

  • If a new type of financing works well

  • If tiny homes could be used

• Asks the office to work with certain groups while doing the research.  

• Requests the office to send a write up of what they found to the group that makes the laws by a set date. by a set date.