ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The affordable housing crisis has hit all sides of the Tampa Bay area.
We've seen huge spikes in rent in Tampa, Sarasota and St. Petersburg, along with housing prices. But we're also seeing the crisis spill into more rural areas and some long-time locals are getting pushed further out.
Amanda Adriani said she would have left Florida a long time ago for Georgia where the rent prices are more affordable, but she has to stay close to Tampa and St. Petersburg for her husband and daughter's medical needs.
They both have a rare, hereditary form of colon cancer and receive regular treatments at Moffitt Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.
"Our rent from $1,000 a month raised to over $2,100 a month so that's been hard," Adriani said.
In April, they were pushed out of their home in Tampa when their landlord sold the bungalow. Forced to look elsewhere, they ended up in an apartment in Citrus Park. 14-year-old Chloe shares a bedroom with her parents.
There are no more activities and experiences. Life has turned into avoiding late fees and figuring out how to afford basic needs.
"I have to do pay-day advances, I have to take loans," Adriani explained.
Just up the road from their Citrus Park apartment is Pasco County, a rural Tampa Bay suburb that's long-time offered a more affordable escape from the city. Recently the housing strain is hurting there in unexpected ways.
"It doesn't take much to figure out that since the median household income in Pasco is $55,000, $2,000 a month is a hard nut for a lot of people to crack and we're seeing a lot of people being displaced, move in with parents and/or move farther north," Mike Bundy, president of the West Pasco Board of Realtors, said.
He says an influx of people from up north and California complicates the crisis.
"They're able to telecommute so they're able to bring those higher salaries with them so the affordability for them is perfectly fine. It's the people who live and work here having a really tough time right now," Bundy explained.