Florida Green Communities

The Florida Community Loan Fund, the Florida Green Building Coalition and Enterprise have joined forces to invest more than $2.7 million worth of incentives to help build or renovate at least 200 homes in Florida that promote health, conserve energy and natural resources, and provide easy access to jobs, schools and services.

Florida Green Communities, as the collaborative is called, provides incentives to encourage developers to build green affordable housing across the state. Florida Green Communities is part of a national effort to transform the way we think about, locate and design affordable housing.

Incentives for Florida Developers

The following special incentives are available to Florida affordable housing developers interested in building green:

More than $2.5 million in discounted green loans to developers of affordable residential or supportive housing.
$200,000 in grants to help cover costs associated with building green.
Technical assistance at no cost through the Florida Solar Energy Center to help utilize the most cost-effective green strategies and identify local design professionals with green-building expertise.
Competitively priced equity through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

Background

The Florida Community Loan Fund is the only statewide not-for-profit federally-certified community development financial institution in Florida. The Loan Fund provides low-cost capital and free technical assistance to support affordable housing projects, economic development efforts, nonprofit community facilities and essential social services.

Established in 1995, the Loan Fund has originated more than $37 million in low-cost credit to projects sponsored by community-based nonprofit organizations throughout Florida and has leveraged an additional $163 million in loans and grants from various public and private sources.

The Florida Green Building Coalition is a statewide nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving the built environment and to implementing a statewide Green Building program with environmental and economic benefits. The Coalition has established detailed standards on which "green" qualification and marketing are based in Florida, including the Florida Green Home Standard, Green Commercial Building Standard, Green Development Standard and the Green Local Government Standard for City and County Governments.