NO RELIEF

Florida Supreme Court decides not to take up Orange County rent control fight, effectively killing it

BY MCKENNA SCHUELER

Last year, over 225,000 Orange County residents — nearly 60% of voters — voted to temporarily cap rent increases at no more than 9.8%, to help stabilize the county’s skyrocketing rent prices.

But now, even after voters made their voices heard, it looks like that relief isn’t coming.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court opted not to take up a legal dispute that arose between Orange County and the Florida Realtors and Florida Apartment Association, two industry groups that filed a lawsuit to block the rent stabilization measure from going into effect.

This means a December ruling by an appeals court siding with the trade groups will remain in place — essentially leaving the popular rent stabilization measure dead in the water.

“The Court’s decision today only affirms that our state government [would] rather stand with greedy corporate landlords represented by the Florida Realtors and Florida Apartment Association over Black, Brown, and working-class tenants, 59% of Orange County voters who made themselves clear at the ballot box, and a statewide movement to demand an end to runaway rents for profit,” Cynthia Laurent, a housing justice organizer for Florida Rising, said to Orlando Weekly

Florida Rising, along with a coalition of social justice advocacy and labor groups, organized to get the rent stabilization measure on the November ballot last year, knocking on doors