Fort Lauderdale, Florida

HJR 1 Homestead-Exemption Tax-Base Exposure

Broward County . 2025 final assessment roll

Snapshot

HJR 1 exposure at full $250,000 phase-in (2028)	9.7%
Exposure at the $150,000 step (2027)	5.5%
Exposure band	Low exposure
Total parcels	85,003
Total residential housing units	104,864
Owner-occupied (homestead) units	37.8%
Out-of-state owned units	19.1%
Florida-owned non-homestead units	43.1%
Archetype	Renter-Heavy

The Fort Lauderdale read

Fort Lauderdale fits the Renter-Heavy archetype. A majority of the residential housing here is not owner-occupied: owner-occupied units account for 37.8% of the city’s 104,864 residential housing units, meaning most of the housing stock is rentals or second homes. Most of that non-owner stock is held by Florida-based owners, making this a local-ownership rental market rather than an absentee one. Owner-occupancy is a minority of the housing.

At full $250,000 phase-in in 2028, HJR 1 exposure sits at 9.7%, with the 2027 step landing at 5.5%. Exposure runs lower than a homeowner town because the amendment only helps homestead owners, and most units here are non-homestead. The insulation is real, but it reflects a community where most residents rent rather than own. Among ranked Florida cities, Fort Lauderdale ranks 351 of 404 by exposure, placing it well toward the low end of the statewide distribution.

Of 104,864 residential housing units, 37.8% are owner-occupied, 19.1% are owned by out-of-state owners, and 43.1% are non-homestead but Florida-owned. The out-of-state share does not trigger the high out-of-state flag here; the dominant non-homestead story is Florida landlords and in-state second-home owners, not absentee outside ownership.

Land-use composition

Share of taxable value by category, Fort Lauderdale, 2025 roll:

Land-use category	Share of value	% of parcels out-of-state	% of value out-of-state
Residential	62.9%	16.5%	14.9%
Commercial	15.0%	19.9%	32.2%
Multifamily	10.0%	9.4%	30.2%
Industrial	4.4%	14.7%	32.8%
Govt/Public	3.4%	0.7%	1.7%
Other/Vacant	2.9%	6.2%	20.6%
Institutional	1.5%	3.8%	13.4%
Agricultural	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Note on the out-of-state columns: these are parcel-based figures measured within each land-use bucket and are not directly comparable to the unit-based ownership shares in the snapshot above.

What the exposure band means

Band: Low exposure. The base is already substantially non-homestead. The amendment is a manageable headwind. Focus on protecting the diversified base that provides the insulation.

Looking ahead

Neither of the following changes the exposure figure above; both shape how Fort Lauderdale grows its base after the amendment takes effect.

First, beginning January 1, 2027, the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%, covering small residential rentals of nine units or fewer and all commercial and industrial real property. Because a capped property’s assessed value can rise only 5% per year, the main path to growing taxable value in these categories is transactions: a sale or change of control resets the property to market value. Transaction velocity matters more to non-homestead base growth under the tighter cap than it did before.

Second, new Florida residents who did not maintain a Florida permanent residence as of December 31, 2026 phase into the larger exemption over five years rather than receiving it immediately. This cannot be read from the assessment roll, so all exposure figures here assume full application of the exemption. Near-term exposure could run slightly lower than modeled in places with many recent arrivals still inside their five-year window.

Where the opportunity is

These mitigation observations are based solely on the tax roll’s land-use composition. They do not account for whether local land development regulations and zoning permit the uses described, whether there is local obstruction, or the political dynamics that typically decide what actually gets approved. This is a starting point for a conversation, not a development plan.

Fort Lauderdale’s low exposure is a housing-and-ownership signal, not a fiscal win. Most residents do not own where they live, and the low exposure figure reflects that structural reality rather than a diversified, resilient base built by design. The mitigation work here is about deepening the non-homestead base so it does not rest mainly on rental housing.
The commercial sector at 15.0% of taxable value and the multifamily sector at 10.0% are the two categories with the most room to add non-homestead base without touching the amendment’s exemption. Growing taxable commercial, light-industrial, and employment-generating value along existing corridors and within the commercial core is the clearest lever. Directing that growth to established arterial frontage and mixed-use corridors rather than scattering it avoids displacement pressure and concentrates value where infrastructure already exists.
Rental and missing-middle housing is already the dominant tenure in Fort Lauderdale, and well-managed, deed-restricted rental development adds taxable base without displacing residents. Because rental is non-homestead, it is one of the categories the amendment does not touch, and supporting its supply in appropriate locations reinforces the insulation the city already has.
Where resident stability and ownership are community goals, any push toward owner-occupied housing should be paired with anti-displacement measures. New owner-occupied homestead housing is the one category the amendment exempts, so it is a community-values decision, not a tax-base move, and should be treated as such.

Watch-out: a renter-heavy city with mostly Florida landlords is a local rental market, not an absentee-ownership situation. Do not describe it as outside-owned. A high rental share at modest values still usually signals an affordability and local-wealth issue, not a tax-base achievement. The low exposure number deserves honest framing.

Source and scope

All figures are computed from the Florida Department of Revenue 2025 final assessment roll, the most recent certified roll in the state’s possession. The roll is used as a structural proxy for Fort Lauderdale’s tax-base composition and homestead exposure, not as a dollar forecast for any specific budget year. HJR 1 / CS-HJR 1F is on the November 2026 ballot; the 2026 roll is the assessment roll in place when voters decide. If the amendment passes, the first roll affected is the 2027 roll at the $150,000 step, followed by the 2028 roll at the full $250,000 phase-in. When the 2026 and later rolls are certified, the analysis re-runs on the new data.

Ownership shares are of residential housing units. The out-of-state ownership figure is a mailing-address proxy: it counts units whose owner’s mailing-address state in the roll is a non-Florida state or country. It undercounts true outside ownership because an out-of-state owner using an in-state LLC mailing address counts as Florida-owned, and it does not prove where an owner actually lives. This is a land-use-composition starting point, not a full fiscal or legal plan.