80/20 Rule

Are there any updates to the Florida 80/20 Rules for HOA's? We are beginning a turnover and our Mgt Co. says that they do not have to take a census every 2 years anymore.

It appears that you are referring to the federal statute section that permits communities that meet certain requirements to restrict residency to only those who are senior citizens above a certain age. This federal statute section is known as the "Housing for Older Persons Act" or "HOPA." Florida has some statute sections on this as well.

Surveys are still required every two years to confirm that certain age requirements met, such that the HOA is allowed to continue to be a HOPA community and so continue to restrict residence by age. See 24 CFR 100.307 at
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-24/subtitle-B/chapter-I/part-100/subpart-E/section-100.307

If you do not know what a "CFR" is, then please ask.

Or just send the management company an email saying: "Look, our understanding is that to remain HOPA qualified, the homeowners' association must comply with 24 CFR 100.307. Please see the attachment. Florida may have additional regulations. We understand these regulations essentially have the force of statutes. As part of its contract, will your company do the surveys that these regulations (which we understand essentially have the force of statutes) require?"

Florida incorporated the federal HOPA rules, in full or nearly so, into Florida's own statutes. For starters, see FS 760.29.

Did it occur to you to ask why Florida incorporated federal HOPA rules into its own statutes?

I expect it was not for nothing; that there is more to this; and that yes, it is relevant to Florida senior communities.

Florida government has an interesting set-up for addressing, simultaneously, allegations of federal and state fair housing violations. And yes, there is some coordination with the federal HUD. And yes, all the signs are that it works and there is no "flori-duh" at play.

In short, while the federal laws are certainly relevant, the OP is 100% correct to speak of the Florida laws on this.

If the OP wants to be familiar with the entirety of state and federal laws relating to 55+ communities in Florida, then yes, they need to consult Florida law.

If they want to know whether or not they can stop conducting age surveys, they do not need to consult Florida law.

What David and you are missing is that Florida may very well have better, superior restrictions when it comes to protecting senior communities. But this might kick in only if Florida statutory requirements are met.

You do not know. You should be questioning why Florida statutes say what they do, with regard to HOPA. It's not like every state has done what Florida has done with its own statutes, with regard to HOPA-type regulations. I mean, whatever happened to your claim that you "naturally look for ways that situations can go off the rails - a byproduct of years of systems analysis and having to deal with contradictory or poorly thought out specs"?

I agree that Florida may have more restrictions than those in HOPA.

The OP quoted their manager as saying that "they do not have to take a census every 2 years anymore", which I interpret to mean that the manager thinks their requirements are less restrictive. Hence HOPA prevails unless it defers to state law in this specific instance, and I've heard nothing to suggest that HOPA has been modified in this way.

Yes, in 2020 the Florida legislature passed a bill into law that deleted certain Florida requirements for a HOA seeking exemption from familial status discrimination via HOPA qualification. Under the new law, such HOAs no longer have to (1) register with the Florida Commission on Human Relations; (2) submit a letter to the commission stating that the facility or community complies with [HOPA qualification/verification stuff yada]; and (3) a bit more. See https://ablawfl.com/florida-changes-registration-requirements-for-55-communities/

RobertW35, I suspect something got lost in translation somewhere. Either the management company is confused, or whatever it conveyed to the HOA was misunderstood. Bi-annual surveys are still required, as described in my first post to this thread.

One would not know if this was a case of Florida law being more demanding than federal law unless one reads the Florida law. In fact, prior to 2021, Florida-specific HOPA law was more demanding than federal law.

Thank you everyone for your thorough input and advice.