ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the new Rays stadium project and surrounding redevelopment moving forward, there’s an urgent call from St. Petersburg church leaders to keep the affordable housing shortage in the spotlight.
On the steps of city hall Thursday, faith leaders joined in prayer, and to drop off postcards with personal stories of how the affordable housing crisis has impacted locals. Stories like that of Phyllis Young, who says she was forced to move out of her apartment after the rent went up $300 a month recently.
“That’s unaffordable to me,” said Young, who lives with her adult daughter. "It's important to me to see something being done to provide affordable housing because my daughter wants to be able to afford to live on her own.”
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Those at city hall were echoing the sentiment, calling on the city and Mayor Ken Welch to work towards building 1,000 affordable housing units per year, for folks making under 80% of the Average Median Income for the city ($53,500 annually).
In the crowd were signs of professions and their salaries; security guards, teaching assistants, baristas, and associate pastors, who all fall under the threshold.
“We are not asking for a handout,” Pastor Ben Winder of the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg said. “There are over 60,000 families in our county who are making less than 80% of the area median income and who are spending more than half of their income on housing. And that's just not sustainable for those families."
Expanding affordable housing is among the pillars of Mayor Ken Welch’s administration, with an ongoing goal of 3,200 additional units by 2030.
The Gas Plant District Redevelopment will provide 1,200 over the next couple of decades, and while it stands to bring massive economic opportunity, leaders have acknowledged it will not solve the housing problem that they still plan on working to tackle.
Advocates are calling on the city council to include their ask in the upcoming budget, set for public hearings next month.
"We pray that St. Pete's annual budget will reflect the needs of the city, to show their plans, publicly and intent to achieve this goal," Pastor Oscar Banks of Palm Lake Christian Church said.