Brevard County Consent Item F.11: Workforce and Supportive Housing Trust Fund Policy on November 10

The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners will consider consent item F.11 at its regular meeting on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. The item is File No. 9274. It seeks Board approval of the Brevard County Workforce and Supportive Housing Trust Fund Policy. The draft would set procedures for evaluating and selecting projects that use Trust Fund money to develop or preserve affordable and workforce housing for households at or below 140 percent of Area Median Income. The draft is not final until the Board votes.

What Consent Item F.11 Would Do

Item F.11 appears under Housing and Human Services on the November 10 consent agenda. Legistar lists File No. 9274 as type Consent and status Agenda Ready. The draft Objective states that the policy is to be used in the development and preservation of affordable and workforce housing, consistent with Brevard County Ordinance 2023-12, approved on May 23, 2023, and codified at Chapter 90, Article IV, Sections 90-75 through 90-77. The draft states that the Board may waive the requirements of the policy, as appropriate, and that authority to issue or revise policies is reserved to the Board.

Who May Be Affected and What It May Mean for Them

The draft Objective states that the Trust Fund serves renters and homeowners through development and preservation of rental and owner-occupied units. Projects anywhere in Brevard County, including within municipalities, are eligible. The program would run in partnership with non-profit and for-profit developers of affordable housing. Developers seeking awards, owners and managers of assisted projects, and households at or below 140 percent of Area Median Income who may occupy assisted units may be affected if the Board adopts the policy and later awards follow it. Nothing is final until the Board acts.

Income Eligibility Under the Draft Policy

The draft ties Trust Fund project assistance to homes for households at or below 140 percent of Area Median Income. Area Median Income means the median family income for Brevard County, Florida, adjusted for family size, as published annually by HUD. A Workforce Person or Household is defined as one or more natural persons or a family whose total annual gross household income is not less than 80 percent and does not exceed 140 percent of the applicable median annual income published annually by HUD. Workforce Housing Development includes single-family or multifamily owner-occupied or rental development in which at least 40 percent of the units are restricted to households at or below the income levels set in the policy. Supportive affordable housing means affordable housing for households with special housing needs.

Eligible Uses of Trust Fund Assistance

Under the draft Directives, eligible uses of funds include the following:

• New construction of affordable and workforce housing units.

• Acquisition, preservation, and rehabilitation of existing affordable and workforce housing units.

• Acquisition and rehabilitation of existing housing for conversion to affordable and workforce housing.

• Acquisition of vacant land and real property for affordable and workforce housing development.

• Acquisition and adaptive reuse of institutional, commercial, and mixed-use property for new housing.

• Infrastructure improvements that directly support eligible housing developments.

• Gap financing and loans for eligible housing developments.

• Local government contributions to Florida Housing Finance Corporation Request for Applications projects.

Developer-produced owner-occupied units remain eligible. Projects under consideration must show financial feasibility and readiness, consistency with local land use, zoning, environmental, and floodplain rules, housing at the policy income thresholds, and a minimum affordability period.

What Is Not Eligible

The draft states that the policy governs Trust Fund assistance for project-based housing development and preservation. Direct assistance to individual homeowners or homebuyers is not an eligible use. That exclusion covers homeowner rehabilitation, emergency repair, down-payment or purchase assistance, mortgage assistance, property-tax assistance, and foreclosure prevention. The Housing and Human Services Department may provide such aid through separately authorized programs and funding sources.

How Awards Would Work

The draft states that the County shall issue a Request for Applications or a Notice of Funding Availability on a periodic basis. Applications would be reviewed by County staff and, if applicable, by an Affordable Housing Advisory Committee evaluation committee. Proposals must include detailed project plans, unit counts, financing, timelines, affordability commitments, Area Median Income unit levels, and bedroom counts. Under the Board-approved policy as drafted, the County Manager or designee may approve awards and execute Agreements within available Trust Fund appropriations in the adopted budget. Funding decisions would be reported as needed to the Board.

Affordability Controls and Monitoring

The draft states that the County shall require a mortgage, lien, Land Use Restriction Agreement, restrictive covenant, deed restriction, or other security or affordability instrument as a condition of developer or project assistance, unless the Board approves a written exception based on public benefit. The applicable Request for Applications or Notice of Funding Availability would set the affordability period, income targeting, unit mix, and related conditions as appropriate. Recipients must comply with the policy, the solicitation, the Agreement, and applicable law. Housing and Human Services would monitor compliance. For rental affordable units, the owner or manager shall certify income at initial lease-up, re-certify annually, and provide annual income compliance reports. Other federal or state agency reports, including those for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation or HUD, may satisfy that requirement. Non-compliance may lead to corrective action, repayment, or other enforcement allowed by the Agreement or applicable law.

Legal Framework Stated in the Packet

The draft Objective cites Ordinance 2023-12, approved on May 23, 2023, and its codification at Chapter 90, Article IV, Sections 90-75 through 90-77. Board minutes for File No. 5790 state that on May 23, 2023, the Board adopted Ordinance No. 23-12 creating that Article IV Trust Fund framework in Chapter 90. The ordinance creates a continuing, non-lapsing fund to address affordable housing needs for renters and homeowners and to increase workforce housing opportunities. Consistent with Section 90-77(d) as cited in the draft policy, loan repayments, interest, recaptured funds, and unspent balances shall remain in the Trust Fund for Trust Fund purposes, shall not revert to general revenues, and shall not lapse. Consistent with Section 90-77(b) as cited in the draft, funding may include surplus real property sale proceeds not otherwise legally committed, and other sources set by ordinance.

Consent Agenda Process and Public Comment

Item F.11 sits on the consent agenda. The November 10 agenda states that the entire Consent Agenda will be passed in one motion to include everything under Section F. A person who wishes to speak to any agenda item, including consent items, should fill out a speaker card before the Board considers the item. Persons addressing the Board generally have three minutes for comments on an item for which a card has been filled out.

The Board may approve, reject, or take other action on the draft Trust Fund policy. The item is not final until the Board votes. The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners meets on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. in Commission Chambers, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera.