About the Shimberg Center
Mission
To facilitate the provision of safe, decent, and affordable housing and related community development throughout the state of Florida, and thereby to establish Florida as the national and international model for successful affordable housing delivery.
What We Do
The Shimberg Center conducts research into housing policy and planning, with a special focus on housing affordability for Florida residents. We provide data and applied research to state agencies, local planners, the housing industry, non-profits, and others involved in shaping housing policy in Florida. We work closely with our colleagues in University of Florida's College of Design, Construction and Planning.
Our current research focuses on documenting housing market conditions and affordable housing needs in Florida's counties, cities and neighborhoods; preserving Florida's affordable rental housing; linking affordable housing with land use and transportation decisions through GIS modeling; supporting the development of energy efficient and healthy homes; and studying the intersection of housing, disaster preparedness and recovery, and climate resilience. The Center also produces the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, which provides public access to data on housing needs and supply for Florida's cities and counties.
- 1988
Florida legislature establishes the Center for Affordable Housing at UF's Rinker School of Construction Management.
- 1991
James H. "Jim" Shimberg a leading Tampa builder, donates $1 millon to the Center, which is renamed the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing in his honor.
Jess and Ida Rogero Childre donate $100,000 to establish the Ida Rogero Childre Fellowship and Assistantship Endowment to support an outstanding graduate student.
- 1995
Shimberg Center creates the Affordable Housing Needs Assessment under contract with Florida Department of Community Affairs.
- 1999
Center completes construction of the first Windstorm Damage Mitigation and Demonstration Center ("Hurricane House") in St. Lucie County.
- 2000
Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse is launched.
- 2001
Center produces its first Statewide Rental Market Study for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
- 2005
Center produces analysis of FEMA data on housing damage from 2004 huricanes, which forms the basis for allocation of over $350 million in state aid.
- 2007
In partnership with UF's Department of Urban and Regional Planning and GeoPlan Center, the Center receives a $500,000 grant from Wells Fargo for the Housing Suitability Model (HSM).
- 2008
Planetizen.com names the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse a Top Ten Planning Web Site.
- 2009
Center is renamed the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies in recognition of a wider research agenda, including a new focus on sustainability.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards the Center $500,000 for data collection and research on the preservation of affordable rental housing.
Bank of America awards the Center $155,000 to create neighborhood-level data to support community development.
- 2010-2011
The Center is a partner in two HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants, led by the Central Florida and East Central Florida Regional Planning Councils. The Center will use the Housing Suitability model to help develop affordable housing plans for six rural Central Florida counties and surrounding proposed SunRail commuter train stations in the Orlando area.
- 2013
Shimberg Center and Program for Resource Efficient Communities receive grant from the MacArthur Foundation's How Housing Matters competition to study energy efficiency in Florida's affordable rental housing supply.
Center receives grant from HUD's Research Partnerships initiative to use the Housing Suitability Model to evaluate transportation, land use and socioeconomic conditions surrounding affordable housing locations in 17 Florida counties.
- 2014-2015
Shimberg Center invited to join HUD's Multidisciplinary Research Team.
Center produces Opting In, Opting Out a Decade Later, a report examining risks to HUD's affordable multifamily inventory.
- 2016
Shimberg Center and University of Illinois receive $248,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study state incentives for healthy housing in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
- 2017
Center produces Multifamily Mapping Application for Florida Housing Finance Corporation
Shimberg Center and Miami Homes for Allrelease study of the impacts of homelessness on children and youth in Florida, sponsored by JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Center launches Housing Florida's Older Adults: By the Numbers with county data on elders' housing, health, and financial status.
- 2018
HUD awards $531,000 to test accessibility retrofits in multifamily housing. Project partners include Shimberg Center, Rinker School of Construction Management, IFAS, and College of Public Health and Health Professions.
Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse gets a makeover, with new data tools, maps, and visualizations.
