{"id":230116,"date":"2026-04-13T18:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T18:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:42:07","slug":"florida-ranks-worst-state-for-renters-as-affordability-crisis-deepens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230116\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida ranks worst state for renters as affordability crisis deepens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) &#8211; Florida ranks as the worst state for renters, according to a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumeraffairs.com\/moving\/best-states-for-renters.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.consumeraffairs.com\/moving\/best-states-for-renters.html\">Consumer Affairs report<\/a>, as about 2.8 million Floridians struggle with rising housing costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The report shows 67% of renters say they\u2019re treading water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said the findings align with what she\u2019s heard from constituents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t surprise me to see this report,\u201d said Eskamani, who rents her own home and has advocated for renters in the legislature for years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThere really is an uneven dynamic when it comes to a renter\u2019s ability to make ends meet, to pay their bills on time. And of course, the path of an eviction is a really damaging one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Consumer Affairs report confirms findings from a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shimberg.ufl.edu\/publications\/2025_rental_market_study.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"http:\/\/www.shimberg.ufl.edu\/publications\/2025_rental_market_study.pdf\">University of Florida report<\/a> last year showing rent jumped 39% between 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Samir Goel, co-CEO of financial health website Esusu, said rising rent costs are preventing many from buying homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s their biggest monthly expense, sometimes comprising, you know, up to 1\/3 or more of their income, but they\u2019re not getting any credit for it. They\u2019re not building wealth. They\u2019re not improving their credit. They\u2019re not sort of reaching their bigger aspirations of the American dream, whatever that might be,\u201d Goel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-center article-text\">Florida Politics: <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Florida has worked to address the housing crisis for several years, with the Live Local Act in 2023 representing the biggest push. The comprehensive strategy created several new programs to bring more workforce housing to the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said in September 2025 that the law is being implemented and officials are hearing suggestions from local governments and developers on ways to improve it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Eskamani said the Live Local Act is a good long-term plan but the state needs immediate action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe also can\u2019t ignore that immediate urgent need, which is where mutual aid, rental assistance, and access to legal aid in the face of housing discrimination. So all of those other elements are a very important piece of this puzzle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A new state law fast-tracks the permitting process for housing development. It\u2019s too early to tell how that will help ease the burden for renters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) &#8211; Florida ranks as the worst state for renters, according to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[88528,1442,28,30,29,2161,1644,99,17486],"class_list":{"0":"post-230116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-affordability-crisis","9":"tag-cody-butler","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-government","14":"tag-housing","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-rent"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}