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Not all can celebrate area housing boom

The county is working on solutions to the affordable-housing crisis, Commissioner Ken Welch says, and a forum Tuesday will center on the topic.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published January 29, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - There's an affordable-housing crisis in Pinellas County, those who should know say.

"I think that's beyond debate at this point," County Commissioner Ken Welch said during a recent interview.

At Pinellas Habitat for Humanity, it's becoming difficult to acquire land for the organization's affordable houses, said Barbara Inman, its executive director.

And in St. Petersburg, a single father whose apartment complex is being converted to condominiums said he needs help to buy a home for himself and three young children.

"I feel that I make an honest living. I take care of my children. I feel that there should be something for me," said John Wooden, 35, who shares custody of his children, ages 7, 4 and 9.

"I'm like middle income. My credit is okay, but it seems like the rich can get a home and the very, very poor can get a home, but middle-income people like myself, who do contribute to the community, can't receive a helping hand," said Wooden, a patient care technician at Bayfront Medical Center and a nursing student at PTEC.

Welch and others blame rapidly rising property values, conversions of affordable apartments to high-priced condominiums, the sale of mobile home parks and a scarcity of land for new development for the growing housing crisis. It's a situation that is affecting people in every income bracket, said Welch. He added that the County Commission is hearing from businesses and chambers of commerce that the high cost of housing is hurting recruitment of low- to upper-income workers.

On Tuesday, St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services and Congregations United for Community Action, or CUCA, will sponsor a forum to talk about the issue. Welch and Habitat's Inman, along with St. Petersburg council member Rene Flowers, will be part of a panel at the forum. Housing costs in Florida have risen almost 80 percent in the past five years, but wages have increased only 7 percent, Inman said.

Habitat for Humanity is "looking at all kinds of ways" to diversify its program, she said. Those could include building multifamily housing, turning to rehabilitation and providing repair assistance to homeowners. The organization also is considering purchasing a rundown mobile home park in Largo, Inman said.

"Somebody is going to buy it eventually. It might as well be us," she said. "We used to get the majority of our land donated. That's not happening anymore, so our ability to continue to provide housing to 60 percent of median income or below is in serious jeopardy. Not only because of the high cost of land, but you combine that with the high cost of insurance, taxes, construction materials, and we have to continually increase the amount of subsidies that our organization provides to our clients or we will have to change who we serve."

Welch said the county is working on several initiatives to alleviate the problem. Commissioners recently passed a mobile home transition ordinance that will provide rental assistance for mobile home owners displaced by developers, if affordable alternatives don't exist. Developers will be responsible for paying the rental assistance and the program administration costs, said Bruce Buffey, planning manager for the county's community development department.

Welch said a housing trust fund ordinance also is being drafted. An inclusionary zoning ordinance also being considered would require developers of projects of a certain size to set aside a percentage of new units at affordable prices or rents, he said. Those who don't set aside units would be asked to make a payment toward the county's housing trust fund. Additionally, the county is taking an inventory of its properties to determine whether some parcels could be used for affordable housing, Welch said.

Pinellas County already offers first-time home buying and rehabilitation programs and works with developers to provide affordable housing. The city of St. Petersburg offers assistance in the form of federal, state and locally funded programs.

It will take "a multifaceted, multipronged communitywide approach" to alleviate the affordable-housing crisis, said Askia Muhammad Aquil, executive director of the St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services.

"Affordable Housing: Can We Find It in St. Petersburg?" Lakeview Presbyterian Church, 1310 22nd Ave. S, St. Petersburg, 7 p.m. Tuesday. Call 822-0784 or e-mail lakeviewpresbyterian@verizon.net

[Last modified January 29, 2006, 01:27:17]