By Edie Ousley
Florida Home Builders Association
The Florida Home Builders Association last month scored a victory in its efforts to demonstrate that mandatory inclusionary zoning is unconstitutional.
Circuit Court Judge Terry P. Lewis denied the City of Tallahassee’s motion to dismiss FHBA’s lawsuit challenging their mandatory inclusionary zoning ordinance.
FHBA, along with the Tallahassee Builders Association and two Tallahassee area developers, challenged the City’s MIZ ordinance on the basis that it is unconstitutional in that it violates substantive due process, is an unlawful taking and an unlawful tax.
Judge Lewis’s order found that FHBA and other parties in the case all sufficiently demonstrated standing. FHBA will now consult with legal counsel to determine the best route for proceeding toward overall victory.
Tallahassee’s MIZ ordinance requires that 10 percent of new homes in a development with 50 or more homes (single- or multi-family homes) be sold for $159,378 - despite what the actual market-rate price for the new home might be. The ordinance identifies specific locations within the city where MIZ housing is to be developed, and these areas include some of the most expensive land in the city.
A national nonpartisan public policy organization study shows that MIZ increases the price of market rate homes by $22,000 to $44,000 per home. That’s because homes in an inclusionary zoned development are increased to subsidize the lower priced homes.
FHBA contends that MIZ results in an even wider gap between the “haves” and “have nots.” Lower incomes will qualify for the inclusionary zoned homes, higher incomes will qualify for the market-rate homes, but middle income families will effectively be squeezed out of realizing “the American dream” of homeownership.