More affordable housing is in the works across the Tampa Bay area, with a groundbreaking taking place Monday morning in St. Petersburg.
Bear Creek Commons, located at 635 64th Street South, will serve as affordable housing for senior citizens with a four-story building housing 85 units. The project is one of the first Penny for Pinellas Affordable Housing Program recipients.
On Wednesday, across the bay in Tampa, another groundbreaking will be held for more affordable housing adding 100 units under the Casa Bel-Mar development.
It's housing Charise Johnson is hoping to move into. She is among thousands of Floridians who struggle to find affordable housing.
"It just needs to level out the rent, but it just keeps going up and up and up," Johnson said.
Johnson was among thousands of people who applied for an affordable housing voucher offered by the Tampa Housing Authority last year.
In just one week, 18,000 people asked for help and submitted an application.
"I make too much to qualify for food stamps, so it's just you have to decide what is going to get paid on time and what's not. Is rent going to be paid on time? Light going to be paid on time and sometimes I have to ask for help," Johnson said.
More than half a year later and she remains on the waitlist.
According to the Tampa Housing Authority, nearly 15,000 people are on a waitlist for some form of voucher to help offset rising rents.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch understands that need.
"Every week I hear from folks who are either on a waiting list or want to get on a waiting list whether it's a church or out in the community," Mayor Welch said.
The need is immense.
A representative with the St. Petersburg Housing Authority cited approximately 10,000 people who are currently on a waitlist for housing assistance on that side of the bay.
"Action speaks louder than words. We can sit here and talk all day long about the importance of affordability but until we actually pass legislation. Pass policy at the local and state level means nothing, so we have done that. We are continuing to do that and we will always be committed to that," Senator Nick Diceglie said.
The action Senator Nick Diceglie is referring to is the Live Local Act.
The law was passed to make affordable housing more attainable from the building process to the funding fueled into it.
In order to expedite construction and get people off of wait lists and into homes, Sen. Diceglie said the bureaucracy needs to be eliminated.
"In the legislation that we passed earlier this year, we you know, we want to cut some red tape to make it, I think more easier for folks who have a concept and have an idea, you know to go through that planning process locally without a lot of bureaucratic red tape," Sen. Diceglie said.
The Live Local Act officially becomes law on July 1, but for people like Johnson, the bureaucracy is the least of her worries.
"It's rough. I am going to have to stay where I am and struggle or find somewhere else eventually," Johnson said.
