The Florida Apartment Association is appealing a district court decision allowing a rent-control ordinance to go before Orange County voters in November.
Judge Jeffrey Ashton of the state’s Ninth Judicial Circuit last week denied the association’s motion to enjoin the rent control measure from reaching the ballot, though he characterized the measure as contrary to current Florida law. Ashton found that the association had a substantial likelihood of prevailing in litigation based on the merits of its arguments, but the judge declined to substitute his judgment for those of Orange County voters.
At the heart of the association’s lawsuit against the rent-cap ordinance is a 1977 state law that local governments can only enact a rent-control measure if it is in the grips of a “housing emergency so grave as to constitute a serious menace to the general public.”
Despite increases in rents above the inflation rate, Ashton indicated that the county had not established such a “menace” is present.
“The elected representatives of the citizens of Orange County … have determined it is in the best interest of those citizens to place a matter before them that is, in this court’s opinion, contrary to established law,” the judge’s opinion says. “That fact, it would appear, has been fully explained to them. … This is not the first such example of this seemingly odd voice by a legislative body. The court should not substitute its judgment of public interest for the people’s elected representatives.”
The association said in an email to the Florida Record that it has filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal and would continue to defend the rights of its members.
“We are disappointed by the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court recently to allow this measure to be voted on in November, but feel optimistic that ultimately this fundamentally flawed rent control measure will be overturned,” Chip Tatum, the association’s executive vice president, said.
The district court also said the preparation of Orange County ballots for the fall referendum had reached such a point that it would be prohibitively costly to remove the proposal from the ballots.
Orange County officials argue that the housing situation in the country is indeed grave. A homebuilding decline occurred in the wake of the 2008 recession, leading to a drop in new construction of 25,000 residential housing units, officials argued in their motion against a preliminary injunction. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the problem, leading to rent hikes, county officials said.