TAMPA, Fla — June 1 marks the start of the 2022 hurricane season. As we put together our hurricane prep kits, there are some things you can't prepare for if you're renting. If you're in an affordable housing complex, it may be even more difficult to advocate for more storm protection.
With the need for more affordable housing across the Tampa Bay area, protecting the units currently available is crucial.
"It's important this time of year that we don't let our guard down and that we provide assistance for affordable housing owners and ownerships to help make their properties more resilient to extreme weather," Sean Sullivan, the executive director of Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, said.
And how are they doing that? Through Keep Safe Florida.
Keep Safe Florida is a comprehensive technical support system created to help affordable housing owners in the Miami, Orlando and Tampa regions with the tools and resources to assess and address threats from climate change and natural disasters. As a part of a new program, affordable housing owners can apply for free property inspections to assess how buildings will withstand a hurricane.
"It's important to identify where affordable housing currently exists in the Tampa Bay region, we have done that with our mapping tool," Sullivan said.
The planning council created maps to show the affordable housing complexes most at risk when severe weather strikes. Their goal is to help landlords improve their property to be storm ready and to work with new developers to address the problem before it exists.
Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is offering resources to help affordable housing owners with local initiatives to increase housing construction including land-use policy changes to support missing middle, countywide collaboration, locally derived housing trust funds, and create best practices for integrating resilience and housing planning, funding and finance strategies.
If you're a landlord wanting to learn more about a free hurricane risk assessment, click here.