Florida’s housing affordability lessens, causing concerns with St. Petersburg locals

Issues involving affordable living standards are nothing new. Prices of housing, groceries, college tuition, and more have risen steadily as society has progressed forwards in to the modern era. Increasing annual expenditures of the average American have been in flux the entire time that the statistical systems that monitor them have been in place.

In the last several years, a concerning trend involving affordability of housing has been seen to take place across much of the United States, but in some of its highest incarnations in this local scene, known colloquially as the greater Tampa bay region.

St. Petersburg as a whole has been seen by many as a cultural destination, rife with a thriving economic status, a diverse demographic makeup, and a high square-mileage of ecologically focused preserved land. This city, by and large, has become home to a variety of social groups, with a citizenry which values social accountability and progressive mindsets.

Many media organizations in recent years have labeled Saint Petersburg as an up-and-coming city, and rent prices have skyrocketed across the state. Home sales over the last several years have been high, according to Zillow, 18,719 homes in the city limits have been sold in the last 24 months, many at much higher prices than originally listed.

This steep uptick in rent and home sale prices has had many worried. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the bay region’s rent averages increased by a record 24% in 2021, making it the highest increase in the nation. They went further, adding that “it may become more common for local residents to spend half their income on rent”. Rentdata.org complied data which surmised that compared to the rest of Florida, the Tampa Bay region is more expensive than the majority of the rest of the state. Most locals spoken to for the purposes of this blog attested to having to spend more than half of their monthly income on rent, backing up the claim made by the Tampa bay Times with our own findings.

In the coming articles, citizens in the local region will be asked to speak about their experiences involving surviving in an unstable financial ecosystem where many locals’ income rate has not increased. Of the 50 people polled thus far in Saint Pete, Gulfport, and Pinellas Park, the lowest recent rent increase was by $100, with more than half citing a monthly increase of $400-700 and some even showing an increase of $1000 or more to their monthly rent rate.

According to Census.gov, the household median income in St. Petersburg was $56,982 in 2019. Realtor.com compiled data showing that the average listed home price was well over $300,000, with large swaths of the county at listings more than $400,000. The average local citizen fundamentally does not make enough annually to be able to afford to buy a home at the recent listing rates, so many in the region are forced to continue renting, even as rent prices across the region soar.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has taken steps to address the difficulties for people in the city to buy homes by pushing St. Petersburg housing assistance payment programs and labeling several neighborhoods in predominantly impoverished regions as Community Redevelopment Areas (CRAs).

Detailed extensively on Stpete.org, South St. Pete, Intown, and Intown West have been slotted for funds to be allocated for community development and assistance programs for renters and first-time home buyers. Many in these neighborhoods are listed below the poverty line, and otherwise would not be easily financially capable of competing in the ever-growing housing market.

Overall, the current city’s administration is beginning to take steps to work on solutions to this sizable list of financial concerns facing St. Petersburg locals, and this blog in the future will discuss these plans, the causes of the issues themselves, and similar scenarios in comparable cities in other parts of the country.