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Pinellas County approves four different affordable housing projects
Kailey Tracy reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Tuesday morning, the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved $12.5 million that will go towards four different affordable housing development projects.
The developments will create more than 300 new units across St. Petersburg, Lealman and Ridgecrest. Two of the projects will be built from the ground up, while the other two will replace older communities.
Skyway Lofts II will be built near the first Skyway Lofts on 34th Street South in St. Pete and includes 66 multi-family units. Burlington Post II will be built near the first Burlington Post on Burlington Avenue North in St. Pete, and includes 75 multi-family units for seniors.
Heritage Oaks in the Greater Ridgecrest area will replace 48 existing units in the Rainbow Village community with 80 new units for seniors. Lealman Heights includes 86 units that will replace 38 older units on the property.
File of housing complex.
"I don't think there's anybody out there in Pinellas County now that isn't either struggling themselves with some housing cost or has a child friend, neighbor or somebody who's dealing with housing affordability issues, so we're really talking about a wide range," Bruce Bussey, the county’s Community Development Director, said.
According to Bussey, the county will pay about 15% of the overall price tag for the projects, and it will use state and federal grants to pay for most of the $12.5 million.
"It’s really just a fraction of the total cost of these new development projects," Bussey said. "Most of the dollars come from either state sources, private sources and other resources, including the City of St. Petersburg, who's using Federal American Rescue Fund Acts for these projects as well. So, it takes multiple layers of financing and funding and partnership to be able to produce housing that's below market rate costs."
Each project will cost about $30 million, he said, totaling about $120 million.
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Bussey said the new housing is a perfect example of the county's new Housing Action Plan, which includes working with developers and other partners to build affordable housing for all incomes.
"These four projects are about housing, and housing is just a critical component of any community for there to be strong quality housing that makes a nice neighborhood and walkability, and for the people that live here, whether they're students, residents, citizens, visitors," he said.
Three of the four communities are for families that make 80% or less of the area's median income, which is $65,700 for a four-person household, according to a county spokesperson. Heritage Oaks is for seniors making 60% or less of the area's median income.
Construction on all four projects will start this fall and wrap up in the next two years. The developers will help current residents find other affordable housing during the construction, then will help them move back in when the project is finished.
Pinellas County affordable housing meeting.
Leaders from across Pinellas County just met at the end of April vowing to find solutions for affordable housing.
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The county, along with several of its municipalities, and the planning organization Forward Pinellas signed on to the Advantage Pinellas Housing Compact and launched a housing action plan. They will work with developers and nonprofit groups to create affordable housing over the next ten years.
"If we don’t do something … it’s only going to get worse and the best time to do something was about 15 years ago, but this is probably the second best," Largo Mayor Woody Brown said.
"We need to make it a priority and get past the nimby issues and make everybody understand how important it is and actually what affordable housing actually looks like," added St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch.
Bussey said right now, the county has close to 10,000 affordable housing units either built or in the pipeline. They’re also looking at new project applications that total about 500 more units.