Monroe County Land Authority helps fund housing, conservation and land deals
Monroe County’s Land Authority quietly decides which Keys land gets preserved, which gets built, and which housing deals can still pencil out. Its dollars, meetings and land buys shape affordability from Key Largo to Marathon.
A half-cent of the tourist impact tax on lodging in the Keys helps fund the Monroe County Land Authority, the board that decides which parcels stay open, which become homes and which rights get retired before they hit the market.
How the Land Authority works
The Monroe County Comprehensive Plan Land Authority was created in 1986 and operates as a component unit of county government under section 380.0663 of the Florida Statutes, Monroe County Ordinance 031-1986 and the Florida Keys and Key West Area of Critical State Concern designations. The Board of County Commissioners serves as the Land Authority’s governing board, so the same elected officials who oversee county policy also control this land tool. Its mission is to help implement land-use plans and act as an intermediary between landowners and the governments that regulate land use.
In practice, that means the authority can buy property for environmental protection, affordable housing, recreational facilities and the protection of private property rights. A five-member advisory committee makes recommendations on property acquisitions, and the full board usually meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m., rotating between the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo, the Marathon Government Center and the Harvey Government Center in Key West. Agendas are folded into the regular BOCC agenda, which keeps the Land Authority’s work tied to the county’s broader political calendar.
Where the money comes from
The Land Authority is not funded like a normal department. Its revenue comes from a surcharge on admissions and overnight occupancy at state parks in the unincorporated county, plus a half-cent of the tourist impact tax charged on lodging in the Keys. The money mostly comes from the same tourism economy that drives demand for land, housing and services in the first place.
The shortage reflects high land values, limited land shaped by geography and environmental constraints, a tourism economy built on lower-paying service jobs and a housing supply tightened by the controlled rate of growth system.
How it shapes housing
For housing, the Land Authority can fund local governments or other agencies to acquire land or help pay for construction when a local government asks. Land Authority money cannot be used to buy environmentally sensitive land for affordable housing, a line that keeps housing finance and conservation finance from collapsing into the same bucket. The statute tied to the program allows help for families earning up to 160 percent of area median income, which is why the county’s 2026 rental sheet includes a Land Authority-only 160 percent tier.
Monroe County’s 2026 rental limits sheet lists a maximum monthly rent of $6,188 for a four-plus-bedroom rental under the Land Authority-only 160 percent category. The same sheet also applies the higher-income tier to owner-occupied housing, which makes the Land Authority one of the few county tools that can work across ownership and rental deals.
From FY 1988 through FY 2020, Land Authority resources helped finance small lot deals such as 21 and 23 North End Road in Key Largo, 24 North Marlin Avenue, 985 and 987 Valencia Road and 702 Sharon Place, alongside larger projects such as 66-unit Tradewinds Hammock Apartments in Key Largo, 50-unit Newport Village Apartments, 36-unit Blue Water Apartments in Tavernier and 84-unit Sea Grape Apartments in Marathon.
How conservation and private-property deals work
The Land Authority acquires property for environmental protection, and those lands protect wildlife areas, reduce housing density and preserve neighborhood character. The county’s conservation stewardship program manages about 3,850 county parcels and 500 state-owned parcels.
The Land Authority also plays a role in private-property rights claims that stem from development limits in critical state concern areas. It uses programs such as Less Than Fee, Density Reduction and Density Reduction Re-Sale to address those claims. The Less Than Fee program is the clearest example: a landowner can keep an adjacent vacant lot for allowed accessory uses like a pool, open yard or garage while selling the right to build a home or any habitable space on that lot forever.
The program is currently suspended because its funding was exhausted in July 2025, though applications are still being accepted in case money returns. The county created the program to retire residential building rights that would otherwise add pressure on the environment, roads and hurricane evacuation. A vacant lot can become open space, an accessory yard or a future house, depending on whether the county buys the right to build.
Vacant county-owned land acquired through the Density Reduction Program can be sold to an adjacent property owner or, in some cases, to a property owners association that wants green space. The Land Authority is not only buying land and rights, but also deciding when land should return to private use and when it should stay in public hands.
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