Florida SB 1548: Child Welfare

Bill Text

1548 
Affordable Housing 
2026-01-09T03:23:29Z 
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. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1548 

 By Senator Calatayud 

 38-01065A-26 20261548__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to affordable housing; amending ss. 
 3 125.01055 and 166.04151, F.S.; requiring counties and 
 4 municipalities, respectively, to authorize certain 
 5 residential use on property owned by a county, 
 6 municipality, or school district under certain 
 7 circumstances; providing requirements for certain 
 8 proposed developments; prohibiting counties and 
 9 municipalities, respectively, from restricting the 
 10 height of certain proposed developments through other 
 11 dimensional means and from requiring certain setbacks 
 12 or stepbacks; revising the definitions of the terms 
 13 “commercial use” and “industrial use”; authorizing 
 14 applicants for certain proposed developments to notify 
 15 the county or municipality, as applicable, by a 
 16 specified date of intent to proceed under certain 
 17 provisions; requiring counties and municipalities to 
 18 allow certain applicants to submit revised 
 19 applications, written requests, and notices of intent 
 20 to account for changes made by the act; amending s. 
 21 333.03, F.S.; providing an exception authorizing the 
 22 applicability of certain provisions to certain 
 23 proposed developments, if approved by the governing 
 24 body of an airport; amending s. 760.22, F.S.; revising 
 25 the definition of the term “person”; amending s. 
 26 760.26, F.S.; revising a prohibition on discriminatory 
 27 practices in land use decisions and in permitting of 
 28 development to include housing that is affordable; 
 29 amending s. 760.35, F.S.; waiving the state’s 
 30 sovereign immunity for certain causes of action based 
 31 upon housing discrimination; providing applicability; 
 32 providing an effective date. 
 33 
 34 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 35 
 36 Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (d), and (n) of subsection (7) 
 37 of section 125.01055, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 
 38 125.01055 Affordable housing.— 
 39 (7)(a) A county must authorize multifamily and mixed-use 
 40 residential as allowable uses in any area zoned for commercial, 
 41 industrial, or mixed use, and in portions of any flexibly zoned 
 42 area such as a planned unit development permitted for 
 43 commercial, industrial, or mixed use, and on property owned by a 
 44 county, municipality, or school district, if at least 40 percent 
 45 of the residential units in a proposed multifamily development 
 46 are rental units that, for a period of at least 30 years, are 
 47 affordable as defined in s. 420.0004. Notwithstanding any other 
 48 law, local ordinance, or regulation to the contrary, a county 
 49 may not require a proposed multifamily development to obtain a 
 50 zoning or land use change, special exception, conditional use 
 51 approval, variance, transfer of density or development units, 
 52 amendment to a development of regional impact, or comprehensive 
 53 plan amendment for the building height, zoning, and densities 
 54 authorized under this subsection. For mixed-use residential 
 55 projects, at least 65 percent of the total square footage must 
 56 be used for residential purposes. The county may not require 
 57 that more than 10 percent of the total square footage of such 
 58 mixed-use residential projects be used for nonresidential 
 59 purposes. A proposed development on property owned by a county, 
 60 municipality, or school district must be within the geographic 
 61 boundaries of the respective county, municipality, or school 
 62 district, and the respective county, municipality, or school 
 63 district must be a party to the application for the proposed 
 64 development. 
 65 (d)1. A county may not restrict the height of a proposed 
 66 development authorized under this subsection below the highest 
 67 currently allowed, or allowed on July 1, 2023, height for a 
 68 commercial or residential building located in its jurisdiction 
 69 within 1 mile of the proposed development or three stories, 
 70 whichever is higher. A county may not restrict height below the 
 71 height authorized under this paragraph through other dimensional 
 72 means, such as height determined by setbacks or stepbacks, or 
 73 vice versa, or require setbacks or stepbacks that are more 
 74 restrictive than the minimum setbacks or