At the Douglas Enclave apartment building in Miami’s Little Havana, developer Henry Torres reduced rents for some of the 199 units after completing the project in 2023. Despite lowering annual rates by an average of $3,000 per unit, Torres was able to offset this reduction through a property tax break of about $4,500 per qualifying unit provided by Florida’s Live Local Act. This resulted in approximately $450,000 in savings from his $950,000 tax bill for the year.
Torres said that the rent reductions helped fill vacancies more quickly amid South Florida’s ongoing affordability crisis. “It definitely got a lot more smiles on people’s faces. I can tell you that. People are struggling right now, especially the blue collar class,” said Torres, founder of Astor Companies. “It helped us tremendously to get units rented faster.”
The Live Local Act is a state law designed to encourage landlords to offer workforce housing by providing property tax abatements. Landlords who completed projects within the past five years and designate at least 71 units as workforce or affordable housing receive significant tax relief: a 75 percent abatement for apartments reserved for households earning between 80 and 120 percent of area median income (AMI), and full abatement for those below 80 percent AMI.
According to data from property appraisers in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, at least 48 properties qualified for these tax breaks this year. Many buildings were retroactively brought under the law’s provisions even though they were not originally planned with Live Local incentives.
Matthew Scott, a land use attorney at Greenspoon Marder, explained that developers are using these benefits to counter rising costs: “Developers are looking at projects and saying, ‘Alright, property insurance is going up, property taxes are going up. How do we offset things?’ They run the math and Live Local gives the tax benefit, so that’s less money they have to pay.”
Coral Rock Development Group applied this approach at its Metropolitan project in Coral Springs by converting market-rate apartments into workforce housing under Live Local. The company leased about 160 apartments at rates roughly $350 lower than comparable market-rate units and achieved full occupancy this fall.
“We determined through metric analysis that we would accelerate leasing and not lose money,” said Michael Wohl of Coral Rock Development Group. “You need to lease-up faster and stabilize faster, so you can be eligible for permanent financing.”
The effectiveness of these incentives depends on local rent levels; suburban areas tend to see greater benefit due to smaller gaps between market rents and workforce rents. In Miami-Dade County alone, most properties receiving Live Local tax breaks were located outside premium coastal neighborhoods—19 out of 28 qualifying properties were in suburban locations such as Hialeah.
Carlos Segrera from IMC Equity Group noted that higher-income areas like Coral Gables do not benefit as much from the program: “The income demographics are higher,” he said. But “if the market [rent] is at $3,000 and you can lease it at $2,700 … now the pro-forma pencils.”
Nick Rojo of Affiliated Development reported securing tax breaks on four properties without needing to lower rents further since their developments already offered below-market rates: “It was necessary because of the dramatic spike in operating cost. Insurance doubled. Materials…skyrocketed,” Rojo said.
However, there are administrative challenges involved with qualifying tenants’ incomes and collecting documentation such as paystubs or tax returns. Additionally, major lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not recognize these tax savings when determining permanent financing amounts—a point raised by Alex Ruiz of Prestige Companies.
While counties may lose revenue due to these abatements, developers argue they enable continued provision of quality services without raising rents further during a period marked by increased operational costs.
Lissette Calderon of Neology Group used Live Local incentives at her No. 17 Residences development in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood to offer one-bedroom apartments below $2,000 per month—rates she described as rare today—and maintain amenities despite rising expenses: “This has allowed us to continue to maintain the rents we were hoping to maintain and continue that aspirational living to the engines that drive our community,” Calderon said.
Torres acknowledged both sides: “I have a lot of sympathy for people struggling but I have to make sure our building makes money,” he stated. “We have a business to run too.”
