Florida Governor Candidate Frank Russo Issues Open Letter to President Trump: "Help Me Build Homes for Working Families in All 67 Counties"
Russo challenges Trump to bring America's builders to the table for a privately funded housing push in every Florida county
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla., Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Frank Russo, Non-party affiliated candidate for Governor of Florida, today released an open letter to President Donald J. Trump asking for his help with Florida's affordability crisis. The letter calls on the President to rally private builders and business leaders behind a plan to build 300- to 500-unit apartment communities in every one of Florida's 67 counties, with the majority of units reserved for lower-income families.
Russo, a longtime supporter who attended the President's first inauguration, frames the letter as a request, not a criticism - an appeal to the dealmaker who stepped in to complete New York's Wollman Rink after years of delays and cost overruns. Contemporary reporting said the project was completed in about three and a half months and $750,000 under budget.
"The problem is rarely the problem; it's who's holding the shovel."
- Frank Russo
THE PLAN AT A GLANCE
Scope: One 300–500-unit apartment community in each of Florida's 67 counties
Unit mix: 60% for families earning at or below 80% of area median income / 40% workforce housing
Funding: Private capital and private builders; no new government dollars
Local revenue: Build a financing structure that protects counties and essential local services as projects come online
The ask: President Trump to rally builders and business leaders, and to break ground on the first community in Florida
Guiding principle: Humanity over the dollar
An Open Letter to President Donald J. Trump
From Frank Russo, Independent Candidate for Governor of Florida
Mr. President,
I supported you. I was at your first inauguration. I stood in that crowd and I heard Toby Keith sing, and I've carried that day with me ever since. I say that up front because what follows is not a criticism, but a request.
Every entrepreneur in America grew up on one of your stories: Wollman Rink. The City of New York spent six years and millions of dollars and could not fix a skating rink. You took it on and finished it in months, under budget. That story taught a generation of us that the problem is rarely the problem; it's who's holding the shovel.
Mr. President, Florida is holding a shovel it needs guidance to use.
We have an affordability crisis. Working people - teachers, nurses, deputies, the men and women who keep this state running - cannot afford to live in the counties they serve.
We already have a tool. It's called the Live Local Act. But I want to go further for the families who need the help most.
So I'm asking you to help me build a model that works.
Sixty percent of the units for families earning 80 percent of area median income or below. Forty percent workforce. Three hundred to five hundred units in every one of Florida's sixty-seven counties.
Private capital. Private builders. No new government dollars.
But there is another part of the equation we have to get right.
We cannot solve Florida's housing crisis by creating a new hole in the budgets of the counties where these families live.
Under Florida law, qualifying affordable units can receive significant property-tax exemptions. Units serving households at or below 80 percent of area median income can receive a 100 percent exemption, while qualifying units serving households above 80 percent and up to 120 percent can receive a 75 percent exemption.
That means we have to build the local revenue question into this plan from day one.
Schools still need funding. Deputies and firefighters still need to be paid. Roads still need to be maintained. The families we are trying to help depend on those services too.
So before we put the first shovel in the ground, I want the counties, builders and investors at the same table to develop a financing structure that protects essential local revenue while keeping these homes affordable.
Nobody gets stuck with the bill. Not the working family. Not the taxpayer. Not the county.
I've made this same call to Elon Musk, to Jeff Bezos, and to Mark Zuckerberg. I'm making it to you last because you're the one who actually knows how to build.
Bring your builders. Bring your friends. Put your name on the foundation stones.
And when the first one goes up, Mr. President, come to Florida and turn the first shovel with me.
Let the cameras see it. Let every governor in America watch a President put working families in homes and dare them to follow.
Humanity over the dollar.
Respectfully,
Frank Russo
NPA Candidate for Governor of Florida
About Frank J. Russo:
Frank J. Russo is the independent candidate for Governor of Florida - and the only candidate on this ballot qualified to fix what's broken. Forty years inside the insurance industry. A lifetime building real businesses. That's who you want managing a $117 billion budget, not career politicians with zero insurance experience and zero payroll they've ever met. Russo called for an elected Insurance Commissioner from day one - before the Orlando Sentinel and Sun Sentinel uncovered the state's own buried report on insurer profits. The state knew. And the politicians opposing Amendment 3, scaring families who are being priced and taxed out of their homes, should be ashamed - they're protecting their jobs, not your children. Frank Russo stands for the forgotten ones: our children, our seniors, our teachers, our veterans, and our special needs children.
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SOURCE Frank J. Russo for Governor
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