Legislative findings.

The Legislature finds that:

(1) With cutbacks in federal assistance for housing programs, the projected population growth of the state, and the impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Florida is experiencing a critical affordable housing shortage.

(2) The failure of the state to commit sufficient resources to address the severe housing problems has resulted in many residents of this state continuing to live in substandard or unaffordable housing or without shelter.

(3) Only seven states report a greater per capita need for low-income rental housing units than this state.

(4) First-time home buyers are growing in numbers, but, due to present trends, are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase a home because of the lack of up-front capital to pay higher down payments, insurance premiums, and other closing costs.

(5) Approximately 12 percent of the elderly population of this state live in poverty and in deplorable housing conditions.

(6) There exists a need for the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of multifamily elderly housing to meet existing and future housing needs.

(7) Escalating land and predevelopment costs and project financing contribute to the overall cost of housing and tend to restrict the development of housing affordable to very-low-income persons, low-income persons, and moderate-income persons.

(8) Existing state housing programs do not provide an adequate remedy to meet current or future housing needs.

(9) As a matter of public policy, special programs are needed to stimulate public and private enterprises to build and rehabilitate housing in order to provide decent, safe, and sanitary conditions for very-low-income persons, low-income persons, and moderate-income persons.

(10) The state should provide incentives for the formation of public-private partnerships as the means of achieving the greatest reduction in housing costs. The state should support partnership initiatives through regulatory relief, a streamlined application process for state-level programs, training, technical assistance, and flexible funding to enable local governments to meet local needs and to match federal funds.