Housing & homelessness
What the campaign promises on housing production, assistance, and homelessness—and which tools City Hall actually controls.
- Zoning, parking, and density: tools that need CouncilMissing-middle housing, density bonuses, and parking reform are City Council land-use fights—not solo mayoral deliverables.
- Housing promises Orlando already fundsRehab, rental assistance, supportive housing, and shelter partnerships already exist—expansion is budget and contract work.
- Hotel-tax money and who controls itThe Tourism Development Tax is county-levied under exclusive statutory uses; housing diversion needs state law and county action.
- The pattern: promise language vs delivery pathAcross the platform, many high-profile lines depend on actors the mayor does not control alone.
Scheduled for release
- Displacement tools and preemption edgesRent control is preempted under state law; real anti-displacement requires land trusts, relocation aid, CRA funds, and legal defense.
- Tax abatements without a fiscal designProperty tax exemptions require taxing authority alignment, strict eligibility monitoring, compliance enforcement, and recapture provisions.
- Adaptive reuse, modular, and nontraditional housingConverting commercial buildings and streamlining modular construction require specific code updates, site acquisition, non-profit operators, and financing.
- Eviction counsel and rental assistanceEvidence supports targeted emergency financial aid and legal representation; scale requires dedicated municipal funding and court integration.
- Repair loans, weatherization, and who paysHome rehabilitation and weatherization programs require capital, licensed contractors, inspection capacity, and clear eligibility rules.
- Tenant purchase and community land trustsMandatory TOPA faces severe state preemption barriers; voluntary Community Land Trusts are a funded, working path.
- Shelter and drop-in: sites, operators, exitsCapacity claims fail without site acquisition, 24-hour operational funding, staffing, and housing exit pathways.
- Housing First is a system, not a sloganStability gains need units, subsidies, operators, and regional coordinated entry.