HOLIDAY, Florida — Finding affordable housing in the Tampa Bay area is becoming increasingly more challenging.
Whether you rent or own, people are struggling to keep the roof over their heads and still provide other basic needs for their families. No one feels the demands of the community more than nonprofit organizations in our area.
Metropolitan Ministries is gearing up to build a new housing complex in Pasco County aimed at helping struggling families on the verge of homelessness.
Christine Long, the chief programs officer at Metropolitan Ministries, said the timing could not be more perfect. Their housing team used to see about 150 families a month; but now they're seeing 500 families a month.
"So many places in the community, housing costs have gone up exorbitantly. More and more families that have never found themselves in a tough situation before are now finding themselves not being able to afford their rent and in danger of eviction or becoming evicted," said Long.
The entire project is estimated to cost $14 million and will include a total of 48 residential units, childhood center, garden, playgrounds, and health and wellness center.
The new project will revitalize the current property in Holiday, Florida, which currently consists of 24 housing units.
Metropolitan Ministries is using its Tampa campus as a model for the project.
"Some of the units will be for emergency shelter so we can help families right away. Other units could be for low-cost rental, a couple hundred dollars a month, $300-400 a month to help families really stabilize," explained Long.
Construction for the campus isn't set in stone, but leaders are hoping to begin building the end of 2022 with completion of the project in late 2023.