{"id":30476,"date":"2025-11-02T20:25:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T20:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/30476\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T20:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T20:25:07","slug":"local-government-law-attorney-discusses-floridas-housing-affordability-and-property-tax-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/30476\/","title":{"rendered":"Local government law attorney discusses Florida\u2019s housing affordability and property tax debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A recent poll from the University of North Florida shows housing costs and property taxes are among the biggest worries for Floridians heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability, affordability, affordability. That is the dominant theme of this poll,\u201d said government law attorney Chris Hand. <\/p>\n

He noted that housing prices have soared across the state, making Florida less of a value market than in the past.<\/p>\n

Property insurance remains a challenge as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany Floridians struggle to afford property insurance or must rely on Citizens Property Insurance Company, the state\u2019s insurer of last resort,\u201d Hand explained.<\/p>\n

RELATED: UNF Poll: Housing costs ranked most important problem facing Florida; voters divided over eliminating property taxes<\/a><\/p>\n

The poll also reflects ongoing debates over property taxes. <\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans in Tallahassee are exploring ways to reduce or eliminate property taxes for homestead properties,\u201d Hand said. However, he cautioned about the impact on local budgets. \u201cIn Jacksonville, property taxes fund about $1.2 billion of the city\u2019s $1.7 billion budget, supporting essential services like police, fire, and parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 49% of poll respondents support eliminating property taxes, 43% oppose it, signaling a divided public.<\/p>\n

This Week in Jacksonville<\/p>\n

More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n

As Florida\u2019s 2026 legislative session approaches, housing affordability and property tax reforms are expected to be key topics of debate.<\/p>\n

Watch the full interview with Chris Hand about housing costs, property taxes, and the government shutdown on This Week in Jacksonville<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A recent poll from the University of North Florida shows housing costs and property taxes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[740,28,116,118,117,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-30476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-economy","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30476","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=30476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}