Faith leaders call for more affordable housing in St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Affordable housing is tough to find, so faith leaders in St. Petersburg came together Tuesday night to call on Mayor Ken Welch to do more.
For many in St. Pete finding a home feels nearly unattainable.
"It's an urgent crisis. It's been ongoing. We can no longer kick the can down the road," FAST volunteer coordinator Kathy Filippelli said.
It's why volunteers with the faith group FAST came to St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch's community meeting Monday night.
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"Lots of buildings happening in St Petersburg, but way over the market price and not for the essential workers and people who live in St Petersburg," Filippelli said.
Mayor Welch previously pledged to create 8,000 affordable housing units in St. Pete by 2030, but FAST isn't convinced the city is on track to make that happen.
Instead, FAST would like to see the City of St. Pete build 5,000 affordable housing units before Mayor Welch's term ends in 2027 and make it so the units are only available to households that make 80 percent or less of the area's median income.
"It's very difficult to do, but it is doable, and I'm an accountant by trade out of USF St. Pete and I have to look at the numbers and see what is available," Mayor Welch said.
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Welch argues the city has made headway on the affordable housing crisis. When the city released its 10-year plan in 2020, they initially promised 7,000 affordable units by 2030. After Welch took office he promised more.
"We were able to increase that by a thousand units by being innovative in our funding, using ARPA funding CRA, funding and those partnerships, and so we want to continue to see where we can increase that total and be very innovative about it. But I'm not going to just say we're going to do 10,000 units without that being feasible to do," Welch said.
FAST said they feel what they're asking for is possible, pointing to neighboring counties where it's been done.
The mayor's office said they have and will continue to look into what FAST is asking for but also said at this time finding the financial resources, developers, and contractors needed just isn't possible within the timeframe they're asking for.