OLDSMAR — Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner took his “Affordability Now” tour to Tampa Bay Thursday, where the conversation focused on property insurance rates, property taxes, and growing discontent with condominium and homeowners’ associations (HOAs).
Florida voters have made clear over the past year that affordability is their top concern. In a University of North Florida survey last month, 50% of respondents said it is their top concern, with the next highest issue being political polarization at 12%.
Struggling in the polls, the former speaker of the Florida House held an exchange about the cost of living in Florida with about a dozen employees at Friends Plumbing, a small business in northeastern Pinellas County. The biggest complaints were high fees, restrictive rules, and authoritarian structures within HOAs and condo associations…