TAMPA, Fla. — The City of Tampa announced a new affordable housing complex in Ybor, and its developers are all graduates of Tampa Bay Tech High School.
Mayor Jane Castor announced a 10-unit multifamily affordable housing complex slated at the corner of Columbus Drive and 22nd Street.
The city awarded $3 million dollars of State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program grant money to Pittman Design Group and Shacers Design Development.
“Our mission with Pittman Design group and Shacers design development is to keep tapping natives native with the affordable housing crisis that we have. Now currently, it's kind of hard to do that, especially in the area that we're in. We're currently in Ybor City,” said Dontavious Pittman of Pittman Design Group.
All of the units will have rents at or below 80% area median income and should be complete within two years.
“Our housing prices have escalated by 140% in the last decade, and there is no end in sight. It's gonna continue to go up,” said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.
The Tampa Housing Authority currently has about 15,000 people on their waitlists.
Tampa issues grants through the ship program in addition to purchasing property and working with developers to build affordable housing, but the crisis is growing across the state.
This legislative session, Governor Ron Desantis signed the Live Local Act providing greater tax incentives and more than $600 million to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation SHIP and SAIL programs.