Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks Aug. 1 during a news conference at LR Uniforms, in Miami. Scott is touting the state’s economic recovery in his Senate campaign, but with homeownership rates at a record low, that message could prompt blowback. [AP archive / Wilfredo Lee] ▲

TALLAHASSEE — While Gov. Rick Scott campaigns on the strength of Florida's economy, there is no mention of a bleak milestone the state just reached — a record-low homeownership rate.

From the soaring pre-recession days, when easy credit pushed housing numbers to new highs, the percentage of Florida households owning homes has plunged to the lowest level ever seen, with data going back more than three decades.

State economist Amy Baker delivered the news this month to the Legislative Budget Commission as part of the state's three-year financial outlook.

While home prices and sales have rebounded, more Floridians are now being forced to rent in an extremely tight and costly market, she said.

"What isn't back to normal is the homeownership rate," Baker said.

The drop in home-owning may be a reality check in a state where Scott's campaign to unseat three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is anchored on the governor's success at sparking job growth and cutting unemployment after entering office in the depths of the recession.

In an election season when Florida Democrats are touting the need for more affordable housing and increasing the minimum wage, the lagging homeownership rate is rekindling a clash between Scott and Nelson over the governor's early reluctance to accept federal aid for troubled Florida homeowners.

It's also shining a light, again, on Scott's vast personal wealth, which included a $1 million investment in a mortgage security firm, whose value peaked when the housing market was cratering in Florida and nationwide.

Scott and later his wife, Ann, owned shares in Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp. around the time the Obama Administration launched the Hardest Hit program to help struggling homeowners in Florida and 17 other states.

Anworth was dubbed a "recession-loving" stock that had performed strongly during the housing crash.

But a spokeswoman said the Scotts' investments played no role in what was viewed as the governor's slow-walking of the federal aid.

"Gov. Scott has never made a single decision as governor with any thought or consideration of his personal finances," said Kerri Wyland, a spokeswoman for Scott's Senate campaign.

Wyland also disagreed that the current homeownership rate was a holdover from the recession, pointing out that Florida tops the national average and levels in Texas, New York and California.

She said Scott inherited an economy "in ruins." Friday's latest state labor statistics show more than 1.6 million jobs have been added since Scott took office, with unemployment at 3.7 percent in August, down 7.1 percentage points since he was sworn in.

"Gov. Scott is proud of the turnaround," she added.

The data

According to the latest figures, 64.1 percent of Florida households owned homes in 2017, slightly above the current national average but down from the state's 66.3 percent average of the past 34 years.

Before the housing collapse, the record high was 2007, when 72.4 percent of Florida households were homeowners.

Pre-recession, easy borrowing pushed many Floridians into homes they ultimately could not afford, inflating the homeownership rate. When the crash came, these new buyers were among the first knocked out of their homes.

By 2010, 14 percent of Florida homes were in foreclosure, highest in the nation, and the delinquency rate on home loans was twice that of Arizona and California, which also were struggling.

When the Obama administration that same year unveiled the Hardest Hit program, which ultimately made almost $10 billion available to troubled states, help looked to be on the way.

But Florida, under Scott, was reluctant to embrace any federal bailout.

Scott was slow to fully implement mortgage reduction and other programs aimed at keeping people from losing their homes.

A federal inspector general's 2015 report found that of the 18 states awarded Hardest Hit dollars, Florida had the lowest rate of admitting homeowners into the program and one of the highest rates of homeowners giving up and withdrawing applications.

Still, the need appeared to be there.

At one point in 2013, computers at the Florida Housing Finance Corp., which oversaw the program, crashed, shutting down the application process.

That same year, a federal report found that only 15.7 percent of the state's $1.1 billion share of the program had been distributed in its first three years.

Nelson repeatedly accused Scott of stalling. He twice called on the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate what he called "continued mismanagement" of the program.

"The goal seemed to be not to tap the funds that were made available to the state," said Alice Vickers, executive director of the Florida Alliance for Consumer Protection, which sought to guide homeowners seeking mortgage help.

"Basically, we took the funds, but the Scott administration didn't want to spend them," she added.

Relief programs and stock ownership

As Florida's housing market slowly recovered, the Scott administration did improve its attempt to provide mortgage modifications, payments for those out of work, reverse mortgage aid and down payment assistance.

By 2016, the Obama administration said that Florida had resolved many of its early problems with the program.

With the Hardest Hit program expected to fully end next year, 52,545 Florida families have received assistance and most of the $1.1 billion in federal aid is now distributed.

"It's no surprise that Sen. Nelson continues to rely on negative attacks to distract from his own record of growing taxes and government, instead of growing jobs or the economy," Wyland said.

While Florida struggled with handing out Hardest Hit dollars, state financial disclosure forms show Scott held almost $500,000 in Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp. stock in 2010 and 2011.

Scott's wife, Ann Scott, also acquired more than $600,000 of Anworth stock, mostly during her husband's earliest months in office.

The couple sold their holdings in the company in early 2012, not long after Anworth filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission warning that mortgage loan modification programs could "adversely affect the value" of the company going forward.

"This is another example of how Rick Scott has used public office to enrich himself while doing a poor job for Floridians, including those left behind during the broader national economic recovery," said Nate Evans, a Nelson spokesman.

In his latest state financial disclosure, Scott reported a personal net worth of $232.6 million — up 56 percent from a year earlier. The bulk of his money — $215 million — is in a blind trust, which is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Tallahassee lawyer Don Hinkle, a major Democratic fundraiser.

Hinkle claims Scott is violating state disclosure law by failing to fully report his assets, as required by the Florida Constitution.

In a more detailed filing required of U.S. Senate candidates, Scott gave a more expansive view of his family wealth, reporting in July that Ann Scott also controls more than $170 million in investments not included in the governor's blind trust.

The disclosures show Scott and his wife have a number of investments that could have been affected by the governor's policy decisions.

Earlier this year, GateHouse Florida newspapers reported on the couple's extensive holdings in Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company whose drugs were widely used to combat Hepatitis C cases, which have swelled with the opioid crisis.

The Miami Herald also reported that the Scotts have invested in a credit fund run by the parent company of All Aboard Florida, which is building the Brightline railroad from Miami to Orlando.

"The rules of the blind trust prevent any specific assets ... from being disclosed to the governor, and those requirements have always been followed," Wyland said.