Housing Crisis
St. Petersburg’s affordable housing crisis has been examined by three Harvard University students. The study released this month reviewed pros and cons of land banking, rent control, and zoning changes for St. Petersburg.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, the students interviewed local stakeholders and investigated census and property appraiser data.
Solutions
In a letter Mayor Ken Welch said the city has 740 affordable and workforce housing units in different phases of development. But the mayor acknowledged the city needs more affordable housing.
One reason why rent might be going up is because companies have bought up houses and are charging high rent. These corporate investor purchases have grown 530 percent since 2011.
Some possible solutions to the crisis include providing incentives to landlords to lower rent and having a public tracker of affordable housing initiatives.
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