Airbnb is announcing a new donation and partnership with the Florida Housing Coalition, supporting our work expanding and preserving affordable housing through training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy. The gift is part of the Airbnb Housing Accelerator, a new national commitment to build more housing through direct investment, policy advocacy, and support for organizations working on the ground.
We are incredibly excited to receive this donation as it lets us scale up our advocacy at the state and local level through our Housing Action Lab, reaching more communities and helping more of them say yes to housing. Our 3,000+ members span Florida’s entire housing ecosystem—nonprofits, local governments, advocates, lenders, philanthropic partners— giving us a powerful network to drive change.
What We’ll Do With This Donation
The funding supports two priorities: activating Florida’s new YIGBY laws, and expanding our state-level advocacy capacity.
1. Activate Yes-in-God’s-Backyard (YIGBY)
In 2025, we helped pass Florida’s first ever YIGBY law (SB 1730), giving local governments the option to approve affordable housing on qualifying land owned by religious institutions, even when that land isn’t currently zoned for residential use.
In 2026, the Legislature took YIGBY a step further. Effective July 1, 2026, House Bill 1389 made YIGBY a statewide mandate in certain cases through the Live Local Act’s framework, requiring approval of multifamily and mixed-use developments with affordable homes on qualifying religious institution-owned land (larger than 3 acres, with an active house of worship for prior 10 years). Together, these laws create a powerful, two-track system to fast-track affordable homes.
The challenge is that Florida’s YIGBY laws are still new and turning them into built housing requires a coordinated effort: faith-based organizations often lack development expertise, local governments are still figuring out implementation, and builders need a pipeline of willing partners. Without targeted education and hands-on support, these laws won’t reach their potential.
With Airbnb’s support, we’ll close that gap by:
Publishing a comprehensive YIGBY toolkit covering the law’s fundamentals, implementation steps, and development basics for faith groups
Hosting community workshops that bring together the full coalition of stakeholders
Conducting interactive YIGBY mapping to identify eligible parcels statewide, layered with funding target areas like Opportunity Zones, CRAs, and Qualified Census Tracts
Providing direct, pro-bono technical assistance to faith-based groups ready to act
Convening a quarterly statewide YIGBY working group to share strategies and troubleshoot challenges
If you’re a religious institution, local government, or housing advocate looking to activate YIGBY in your community, let us know! We have a team dedicated to making sure this new tool actually builds homes.
2. Expand State-Level, Pro-Housing Advocacy Capacity
Florida’s legislative landscape on housing has transformed dramatically. Prior to the Live Local Act’s passage in 2023, affordable housing rarely appeared on the Legislature’s agenda beyond debates over whether to fully fund our state’s Sadowski Affordable Housing programs. Today, housing affordability is a top legislative priority.
Since 2023, lawmakers have advanced numerous bills aimed at increasing housing supply statewide, including the transformative Live Local Act and subsequent refinements, statewide legalization of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), the Florida Starter Homes Act (enabling smaller homes on smaller lots), transit-oriented development (TOD), factory-built housing expansion, use of public land for housing, and permitting reform. We’re at the table for all of it, advocating for public policy that expands housing supply through both regulatory reform and dedicated funding.
Our advocacy team has grown accordingly, from one or two part-time staff focused solely on Sadowski funding to three nearly full-time policy staff plus two part-time team members. Airbnb’s donation lets us sustain and scale that capacity through this critical legislative window by:
Deepening legislative engagement — lobbying, policy analysis, bill drafting, and coalition coordination throughout and after session
Producing policy research on ADUs, Starter Homes, TOD, and new funding streams, with model language for policymakers
Accelerating local implementation of the Live Local Act, YIGBY, surplus land laws, and factory-built housing through direct technical assistance
Building and supporting state coalitions as the trusted partner for advocates, industry, and policymakers through working groups and a sustained Capitol presence
Our Policy Priorities
These pro-housing policies will anchor our advocacy and research through the remainder of the 2020s as we champion more homes, of more shapes and sizes, in more places:
Affordable Housing Funding. A dedicated funding stream is one of the most effective ways we can meet our housing needs, particularly for the lowest-income families in Florida. We will continue to champion full funding for Florida’s Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Funds and supporting the Live Local SAIL program, Hometown Heroes Housing Program, expansion of the Tourist Development Tax for affordable housing, unlocking local revenue streams, and other efforts to fund homes affordable to lower-income Floridians.
Starter Homes. Young families and lower-income households need more attainable pathways to homeownership and wealth building. We support efforts to allow smaller homes on smaller lots, modest-sized homes that are ideal as starter homes. Whether done at the state or local level, we’ll work closely with local builders and governments to ensure successful implementation.
Middle Housing Reform. We want more homes, of more shapes and sizes, in more places. This means ensuring that ADUs, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and multifamily buildings are legally allowed in more locations across Florida communities.
Sustaining Live Local. We will continue to build on Live Local’s success and sustain the law’s momentum by continuing our tracking and data analysis efforts to educate policymakers and the public about its impact on housing affordability. We also advocate for companion policies that target lower-income households to ensure deeper affordability than the Act requires.
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Building homes near transit stops is a planning best practice. By increasing density near public transit, often located in residential and commercial cores, communities can lower transportation costs, increase ridership, limit sprawl, and produce more desperately needed homes. We will continue to advocate for policies that marry infrastructure investments with housing development.
Permanent Affordability. Where significant public resources are deployed for affordable housing, the homes produced should remain affordable in perpetuity. We’ll advocate for permanent affordability in state statutes, funding decisions by the public funders, and at the local level through partnerships with Community Land Trusts (CLTs).
Building Resiliently. Homes cannot be affordable if they’re uninhabitable. We will continue to advocate for land use, regulatory, and funding policies that build a resilient stock of affordable homes.
Streamline Permitting. We advocate for streamlining housing permitting so more homes can be built more quickly. Reforms include increasing administrative approvals without public hearings, establishing clear objective criteria for development applications, enforcing existing state requirements, and using pre-approved building plans.
Public Land for Public Good. Meeting Florida’s housing needs requires public-private collaboration to unlock public land for affordable homes. We work to ensure that land owned by the state, cities, counties, school districts, and special districts is prioritized for affordable housing through state policy advocacy and local best practices that transform idle land into community assets.
Join Us!
For more than 40 years, the Florida Housing Coalition has brought together advocates, resources, and expertise to help ensure every Floridian has an affordable home in a suitable living environment. This support from Airbnb will help us continue to expand our impact to ensure this vision comes to life.
If you want to be a part of this effort, reach out! We want to be sure we’re advocating for the policies that’ll best support the creation and preservation of affordable homes statewide. We greatly value feedback from our members to help shape our policy priorities.
Donations that promote advocacy & technical assistance are a Godsend. How does a nonprofit assess legal probono help piece of this article? Thank you.