ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tenants staged a protest Friday night outside their housing complex in St. Petersburg. They're fed up with what they say are unfair eviction notices from their property manager, and now they're fighting back to keep a roof over their heads.
The trouble started for Kiera Owens when she got a second job at Wawa in November 2023. She lives at Boca Ciega Townhomes, a subsidized housing complex, where rent is based on monthly income.
She said she filed her required change of income form and dropped it off at the office but could never confirm it was received by property manager, Katrina Weekley.
“I didn't hear from her until, like, April,” she says. “[Weekley] said she put a notice in my door stating that I owe from unreported income.”
Nearly five thousand dollars in unreported income. She tried to meet with the property manager but never could. Then about a month ago she got a 30-day notice that said she was going to be evicted.
“I was panicking, talking to my attorney, and that's when I reached out to the St. Pete Tenants Union,” she said.
The protest of a few dozen people isn't just for Kiera Owens and her eviction proceedings. There are others here who say they've been targeted with evictions as well.
Keyonte Blackwell is being evicted from her townhome at the complex for not filing a change of income form.
“I can't really focus on anything right now but this because I have to keep a roof over me and my kids' heads,” she said. “I gave her a written notice in January regarding my job. From January to the middle of March, she was not here.”
Neither the property manager or ownership responded to our requests for comment, but in an email the manager sent to the union, she said Owens committed fraud and is the target of harassment herself.
“I just feel like it's very far-fetched, her saying that,” Owens said.
Owens expects a formal eviction case will be filed next week in Pinellas County. She hopes the judge will listen to her, even if she says her landlord won't.
The property manager also works on staff at the St. Petersburg Housing Authority. The authority told 10 Tampa Bay they have no affiliation with the housing complex and that any complaints given to them have been passed on to the property owners.