The law provides benefits for developers for meeting certain incentives, but county critics said it strips them of local control.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — After nearly three months, Hillsborough County commissioners followed through on their promise to file a lawsuit against the state of Florida.

The Live Local Act was passed by the state Legislature in 2023 in response to affordable housing shortages, but county commissioners argue the law is unconstitutional. 

Commissioners have cited concerns that the law allows certain housing projects to override local zoning rules on density and building height when requirements are met. Those projects include multifamily housing or developments built on commercial, industrial or mixed-use land and must designate at least 40% of residential units as affordable.

Benefits include streamlined approval and significant tax breaks for qualifying developments, among others.

The efforts to sue the state has received bipartisan support from commissioners.

“I have had enough of these greedy multifamily developers raping our land and destroying our communities, all while forcing us to subsidize them through this horrendous law. Its in the courts hands now,” Commissoner Joshua Wostal, who brought up the motion to challenge the state, wrote on X.

Commissioners echoed similar concerns over local government’s ability to manage land use and zoning, referencing new development and a previous project that were denied but moving forward under the law. In addition, concerns have been raised on unincorporated and rural areas of the county.

Commissioners also brought up criticism that the state government had gone too far and worry more housing in the wrong places could be built.

“I’ve always believed that a core conservative philosophy was the devolution of power from the federal level and the state level to local governments and communities, and yet, the Republican Legislature continues to make decisions that are contrary to this,” Commissioner Ken Hagan said in December.

Supporters of the law argue it has helped speed up development amid a need for more housing.

“The reason why the state, I think, passed the Live Local Act and decided to step in is because the Legislature really felt like local governments weren’t doing a good enough job of creating enough housing,” Jake Cremer, managing partner of Barbas Cremer, PLLC, said.

Cremer said he believes the thousands more homes being built through the law since it passed in 2023 is a measure of its success. Cremer argues Florida’s housing system is broken and that the state should test the law to see if it can help increase housing supply.

“I think for the average American, housing affordability is a really big concern right now,” Cremer said. “Let’s give it a few years to see how it goes, see if the numbers continue to increase over time because it takes a little bit of time for the new housing that gets built to have the impact on affordability.”

10 Tampa Bay News reached out to the governor’s office for comment but has not heard back.