ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Pete leaders are investing another nearly $4 million toward affordable housing.
Of that, $1.4 million will go toward making fixes at Citrus Grove Apartments in South St. Pete, where residents pay just 30% of their household income toward rent.
The upgrades include new windows, electrical work, a new roof, interior renovations and better lighting.
Dejah Hagen lives at Citrus Grove Apartments and said the upgrades are desperately needed. Besides several broken windows at the apartment complex, she said she hasn’t had reliable air conditioning or hot water for about two months.
“No air, no hot water, everybody is going through the same thing because they lack the maintenance. We want to bathe our children in hot water. We want to enjoy air. We shouldn’t have to be gone from our house every day just to feel comfortable. Our home is where we are supposed to feel comfortable,” she explained.
Besides making fixes, St. Pete leaders are also extending the affordability period of the 84 apartments at Citrus Grove for another 20 years, keeping the complex affordable until 2061.
“It feels good for them to finally be fixing it up over here because I hate going to sleep sweating,” Hagen added.
Almost $2.3 million will go towards a new affordable housing project that will turn a lumber yard on Fairfield Avenue into 264 affordable units.
RELATED: St. Petersburg City Council approves $3.7M in funding for affordable housing projects
St. Petersburg leaders said that they are the first city in the state to take advantage of a new law allowing for the construction of certain affordable housing projects on industrial land.
Of the total units, which range from one to three bedrooms, 53 will be reserved for individuals earning at or below 50% of the Area Median Income; 67 at or below 80% AMI; and 144 at or below 120% AMI.
Yet, housing advocates said these initiatives still don’t go far enough to address the community’s needs.
“Taking this broken system and putting just a little more money into it, that’s not going to help. We need to fundamentally change the system and the way we do housing,” explained William Kilgore of the St. Pete Tenant’s Union. Kilgore and his group members are advocating for rent control and tenant protections.
The average apartment in St. Pete now rented for about $2,000 a month, according to rent.com.
“This need that they’re filling here is like half a percent of what we need. At the rate they are doing these affordable housing projects, it’s going to take a century for them to get caught up. Meanwhile, people with little babies are living in cars, old folks are getting kicked out onto the streets in the golden years of their lives. It’s unconscionable,” Kilgore added.
Kilgore said he and his group won’t give up on fighting for long-term options despite city leaders voting down a proposal to put rent control measures on the November ballot recently.