Live Local Act

State lawmakers have tried to address the affordability crisis by encouraging more attainable housing development. But experts say one of their biggest efforts yet — the Live Local Act — will instead flood the market with units that fail to address the core need. Many will remain out of reach for middle-class renters like teachers, secretaries and firefighters.

Sarasota County's attempt to stop thousands of apartments from being built in rural communities is now facing the legal challenge the county attorney warned was likely all along.

In a unanimous vote that could set up a major legal showdown, Sarasota County commissioners this week moved to block developers from building large apartment complexes next to rural homes and farmland, rejecting applications amid legal uncertainty over a controversial state law.