ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program is the local portion of Florida’s Sadowski Housing Trust Fund, which funds affordable housing initiatives throughout the state. But a veto could threaten a Parramore-home project.
- The SHIP program provides money to local governments, primarily for homeownership programs, but also for home repairs. SHIP was designed to serve very low, low, and moderate-income families in Florida.
- Bishop Billy Newton started a non-profit, Future Leaders Development Corporation, which aims to help keep Parramore families in their community, by providing homeownership opportunities to low-income residents. Newton said the organization, which is partially funded by SHIP funds via the City of Orlando, has built two-family homes so far and is looking to build more.
- This year was the first in over a decade that the Florida legislature actually approved the Sadowski Fund’s budget in full. In past years, money in the Sadowski Fund has been used for other government initiatives unrelated to affordable housing.
- The $225 million that Gov. Ron DeSantis originally allocated to SHIP this year has not been moved to the state’s general revenue fund or any other program. “The money’s still there. It’s just that it has to be appropriated again,” said Florida Housing Coalition CEO Jaimie Ross.
- There’s a chance that Florida legislators could decide to do just that, during an expected special session after the November election.
Molly Duerig contributed to this report. Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.