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Florida Agriculture Commissioner Candidate JR Gaillot promises to support a rent hike cap [1]

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Date: 2022-07-18

Florida has long been notorious for its exponentially growing rent. A study done by Florida Atlantic University found that of the top 10 areas in the country with the highest rent increases last year, 8 of them were in Florida. This year, rent in areas of Florida surged as much as 27% (Tampa), 31.7% (Miami Dade), or even 32.4% (Fort Myers). Florida is experiencing some of the highest rent hikes in the country.

To see an example of how economically devastating these rent costs are, one must only look to Miami. According to US Census Data, the median household income in Miami is $44,268 a year, yet the average rent for an apartment is $2,132 a month, or $25,584 a year. That means the average family in Miami could be spending as much as 58% of their income on rent, far above the recommended 30%.

Rent is getting crushingly high, and that trend is not expected to stop anytime soon. Roughly 72% of landlords surveyed by Realtor.com said they were planning on increasing rent even further within the next 12 months.

Rent increases will push tenants out of their homes, drown families in debt, and make it harder for young people to get on their feet. When housing becomes unaffordable, entire communities suffer.

This type of rent increase is not only harmful to tenants, as they have to pay much more out of pocket, but also increases the potential fallout of a housing crash. A study found that 10 out of 14 of the most overvalued markets in the US were in Florida. An overvalued market can be a dangerous thing during a recession, which some economists are worried the US may be headed for. Overvalued housing markets tend to crash harder and with much more devastating impact than other, more stable markets.

The Florida government has historically avoided instituting any form of rent control. Florida actually has laws preventing local municipalities from enacting rent control. However, action towards this issue might be prioritized, unlike in the past, by JR Gaillot.

JR Gaillot, a former Florida congressional nominee, who is now running for Agricultural Commissioner, has promised to take action to stabilize rent prices. He has promised to support a rent hike cap initiative, which would prevent landlords from raising the rent in certain areas beyond a certain percentage for a year. On his campaign website, JR Gaillot explains that “we are in a housing affordability crisis” and that “There is a need for something to be done to protect tenants…and to preserve our economic workforce.”

JR Gaillot has placed partial blame for the enormous increases in rent in Florida on private equity firms entering the low-income housing market, buying up property, and jacking up the rent. A ProPublica investigation published in February has found evidence that private equity firms cumulatively controlled roughly 1 million apartments last year (which is estimated to be an undercount) and systematically slashed benefits to tenants and hiked rents after purchasing apartment complexes. Galliot has promised to reduce these predatory practices and prioritize tenants if he is elected to be Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner.

Gaillot is currently running in the Democratic primary and, should he win, will likely face off against Republican Wilton Simpson in the general election. While Florida is traditionally a red state when it comes to state-wide races, the Agriculture Commissioner race is actually one of the few Florida state-wide races which have gone to Democrats before (Democrat Nikki Fried most recently held the seat). It seems that in JR Gaillot, Florida citizens may finally have an opportunity to stop the runaway train that is Florida rental prices. At the very least, his campaign could start a long, and necessary conversation in Florida about the price of rent.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/18/2111162/-Florida-Agriculture-Commissioner-Candidate-JR-Galliot-promises-to-support-a-rent-hike-cap

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