Large crowd calls on St. Pete to create more affordable housing
The Brief
Faith and Action for Strength Together, or FAST, hosted a meeting Monday night in hopes of finding affordable housing solutions.
St. Pete City Councilmembers Richie Floyd and Corey Givens were among the city officials who helped answer questions.
More than 1,500 people attended the meeting, indicating strong interest in the topic.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - More than 1,500 people a packed sanctuary Monday night at the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg to demand the city do more to address the housing crisis.
What they're saying
"The housing situation is terrible. I live in an efficiency apartment. I pay over $1,500 a month. If it wasn't for my social security and the job that I currently have, I wouldn't be able to afford living here," John Turner said.
Turner is just one of the many feeling the effects of increasing rent prices. He's a member of the organization Faith and Action for Strength Together, or FAST, which put on the meeting hoping to get answers and find solutions to how to create more affordable housing.
"The cost of living overall. It's gotten very expensive to live in St. Petersburg, and I think it's very important that we focus on that. I know a lot of my colleagues feel similarly," St. Pete City Councilmember Richie Floyd said.
Councilmembers Floyd and Corey Givens were among the city officials who helped answer questions and talk about ideas. As a result of the meeting, they both agreed to bring about a resolution to the council at an upcoming meeting to commit to creating a minimum of 500 affordable housing units each year for the next five years for families making 80 percent or less of the area's median income.
"The truth is that is such a bare minimum. We should be doing much more to actually solve the problem, but we're here today talking about how we can take action to start to solve the problems," Floyd said.
By the numbers
According to the latest data from the Shimberg Center at the University of Florida, 90 percent of renters in Pinellas County who are paying more than half of their income on rent are making 80 percent or less of the area's median income. Turner hopes meetings like the one on Monday night can help bring that percentage down.
"I hope that the City Council and the community councils in Pinellas will listen intently and understand that there are workers that live in Pinellas and in St. Pete that can't afford living here," Turner said.
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The Source
Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.
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