Families across Florida’s 6th District—from Daytona Beach to St. Augustine and our inland communities—are being squeezed by rising housing costs, skyrocketing insurance premiums, healthcare expenses, and higher prices for everyday essentials. These challenges aren’t about politics—they’re about common sense. It’s time for practical solutions that protect what makes Florida strong: opportunity, security, and affordability.
- Housing Affordability
Home prices and rents have surged, putting the dream of homeownership out of reach for many. The increases in property taxes, cost of building materials/labor, and interest rates have made affording a home a non-reality for most. Mobile home lot rents have nearly doubled since 2015, impacting seniors and working families the most.
- Revitalize & Rebuild incentive program: Encourage developers to repurpose abandoned or underutilized properties by combining tax incentives, grants, and regulatory relief to to create affordable, quality housing.
- Boost Homeownership: Expand first-time homebuyer credits and strengthen VA loan access for veterans and service members.
- Protect Mobile Home Owners: Promote resident-owned communities by improving access to low-interest financing.
2. Insurance Relief
Florida’s insurance crisis is driving up premiums to an average of $6,000 per year, far above the national average. Overdevelopment in general, including that in high-risk coastal and flood-prone areas is compounding this problem by driving up both claim frequency and replacement costs.
- Federal Disaster Backstop: Create a national reinsurance program to stabilize rates without burdening taxpayers.
- Storm Hardening Incentives: Provide grants for upgrades like impact windows and roofing—because stronger homes mean lower premiums.
- Accountability for Insurers: Increase transparency for companies that take taxpayer-backed disaster aid while raising rates.
- Promote Responsible Development: Support policies that encourage building in safer areas and require new developments in high-risk zones to meet the strongest storm-resiliency standards.
- Overbuilding in flood zones strains infrastructure and increases catastrophic losses, which drive up everyone’s premiums—not just those living on the coast. Responsible growth helps lower risk and stabilize insurance markets.
3. Healthcare Costs
Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing household expenses, especially for seniors and working families. One of the key pieces to this are prescription drug prices, which remain high despite recent federal reforms.
- Lower Prescription Costs: Enforce Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices and extend those savings to private insurance markets.
- Upfront Price Transparency: Require hospitals and insurers to disclose costs before treatment so families can shop for care.
- Telehealth Expansion: Support telehealth for rural and senior patients to cut travel and out-of-pocket expenses.
- Protect Against Surprise Billing: Fully enforce federal laws against unexpected medical charges.