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| Specialty license plate supports housing for all By: George Andreassi 03/28/08 HOBE SOUND — A Realtor has undertaken a campaign to drum up sales of a little-known specialty license plate that was created to raise money for affordable housing statewide. It has been about a year since the "Support Homeownership for All" license plate has been available on the Treasure Coast, and so far 61 have been sold, said tax officials in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties. There are plenty in stock. About 2,000 of the plates have been sold statewide at an extra cost of $25 each, generating about $50,000 for affordable housing programs, state records show. A nonprofit group called Homeownership for All Inc. is administering the money. Mike Dooley, a broker with Illustrated Properties in Hobe Sound, said he is trying to spread the word about the specialty license plate, which he helped push through the Legislature in 2006 when he was president of the Florida Association of Realtors. "We want to reach everybody. We want to reach the entire public. But we're taking baby steps because it only has been for sale for about a year and our funds are limited right now," Dooley said. "We've just got to get the word out more and more," Dooley said. "It's amazing how many of the grass-root Realtors even still don't know that it's available." The Florida Association of Realtors plans to post signs in local Realtor association offices throughout the state advertising the availability of the Support Homeownership for All license plates, Dooley said. The group will also try to place the signs in the local government offices where license plates are sold, Dooley said. In addition, the plate is being sold from a mobile sales center this week in the state capital in Tallahassee to coincide with the Realtor's lobbying efforts, Dooley said. The money raised initially will be used for an education program to help first time homebuyers learn about home loans and the purchasing process, Dooley said. Eventually, the program may grow to the point where it can contribute to affordable housing programs. The existence of the Support Homeownership for All license plates came as a surprise to some affordable housing providers on the Treasure Coast. "This is the first I've heard of it," said Al Rivett, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in St. Lucie County. "It sounds good. I just didn't know that it existed, so we'll have to look into it." Michele Reilly, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Martin County, said she plans to encourage the group's 500 volunteers to consider buying a Support Homeownership for All license plate. "I didn't even know anything about it," Reilly said. "That's something we would market to our supporters. We'd love to turn them onto this Support Homeownership for All license plate." Martin County: 23 St. Lucie: 28 Indian River: 10 Okeechobee: 0 Total: 61 *** |