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Tampa family moves into new home thanks for affordability project
Josh Cascio reports
SULPHUR SPRINGS, Fla. - Over the last eight years, Chris Glass and his mother were forced to move at least three times due to rising rental costs. That's not an issue anymore.
Monday, they claimed a brand-new home as their own.
"We don’t have to cringe when the lease time is coming near, we don’t have to uproot ourselves," said new homeowner Velina Glass.
Their three-bedroom, two-bath in Sulphur Springs is part of the city of Tampa's Infill Affordable Housing program.
After identifying plots of its own land, the city awards them to developers through a lottery system. The developer then has to use the land to build affordable homes.
Currently, there are 17 others like it in the works.
The 1,250-square-foot home was listed for $300,000.
"So, if they get the lot for free, they can take that off the bottom line of a home and make that home affordable for our community," explained Mayor Jane Castor.
Buyers must also meet certain income standards. In this case, falling within the 80% Area Median Income or AMI.
That helps ensure working families aren't priced out of the market – a rare thing these days as Tampa's housing market continues to skyrocket.
The city hopes to create upwards of 10,000 new affordable homes by 2027.
"Given our budget, we thought we'd never be able to afford a nice house," Glass said.