TAMPA, Fla. — Families across the Tampa Bay area are struggling to keep up with the price of rising rent. Hillsborough County Commissioners will discuss a plan at their Wednesday meeting to address affordable housing.
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The Hope Affordable Housing Biennial Plan will put $10 million into a grant to help people way below the average median income. The 20-page agenda item has several goals in mind. Commissioners want to increase the number of new affordable housing units and reduce the number of cost burdened units.
According to HUD's definition, that means they want to make sure people aren't spending 30% or more of their income on housing. There's also plans to preserve existing affordable rental units.
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Read the plan in it's entirety below
Hillsborough County Agenda Item Cover Sheet by wftsweb on Scribd
The plan also has provisions that would provide additional housing opportunities for residents with special needs and who are homeless. There's also some verbiage about land banking, which basically allows developers to receive grants for building affordable housing. If families are looking to buy a home, there's help with down payments. This is only for eligible first-time home buyers with a deferred payment loan.
The final draft of the plan comes after the Affordable Housing Advisory Board met back in December and recommended several changes.
