Across the gridded streets that many call home, St. Petersburg has been experiencing a monumental transformation in the realm of financial tensions. Issues with affordability have been present across much of the United States since the inception of its colonial past, but a serious escalation in recent years has sparked concerns in many who could be considered economically vulnerable.
With the annual household median income in St. Pete being $56,982, many at or below that middle ground are in a constant state of tension as prospects for affordable living have dwindled. This tension has been building for several years now, as housing prices have soared, costs of food and goods has risen, and wages, by and large, have remained stagnant for many living within the greater Tampa Bay metropolitan area.
This trend has given way to serious fears for many lower income residents, with some even going so far as to cite genuine concerns of imminent homelessness if the financial disparity deepens.
Going by a pseudonym due to worries of negative drawbacks for going on record, Andrea Davis, a 20 year old woman of color, has fallen on hard times in the era of financial tensions worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. A St. Petersburg local her entire life, things have never been easy for those in her family and her neighborhood. A household setting where all members would be considered below the poverty line, tensions at home led Davis to move out at a young age and thrust herself in to the service industry, waiting tables for a largely tip-based income.
Many servers on record make an hourly wage below the typical minimum wage earnings regulated by the state of Florida, a wage bracket that began at $10 an hour in 2021 and rising at $1 an hour every year until $15 in 2026. This wage scale was approved through a voter’s referendum set before Florida residents in 2020’s election year.
It is important to note that even $15 an hour is nary enough for most in the local scene to earn what most would call a living wage, especially more so as the cost of goods and housing inches ever so higher as economic tensions in Tampa Bay rise.
Davis has expressed serious concerns about what will happen to her, and many similar to her, as housing affordability dwindles. A woman of color, Davis has always found making a name for herself in the America she was raised in has always been immensely difficult. Many in her friend group express similar levels of despair, and a general level of anxiety involving possible homelessness in the not-so-distant future.
“I’m just terrified of the future,” stated Davis during our interview “and many in my friend group are angry at what has happened to many in St. Pete.”
This trend is a concern for so many living at or below the poverty line, and many who don’t even see themselves as impoverished have been thrust in to a world of barely making rent, skipping meals, and going without daily needs.
Davis is just one of many with similar woes, and the number of individuals experiencing a rise in terror as rent prices raise is daunting. Three households have gone on record stating that their home’s that they had been renting had been sold without their knowledge and that they were expected to vacate and find new housing in less than six months. These individuals have pets and families, without significant savings to aid them in paying the various deposits and moving expenses obtaining a new home comes with. The terror in their words is palpable, and many look to their elected officials for help. For some, it may be too little too late.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has offered forth assistance programs for citizens to get home loans and down payments to attempt to buy property and escape the growing rent crisis. Real estate agents who have gone on record have stated that the concern herein lies with houses being sold as fast as they are put on the market with little time for prospective buyers to sit and think about making such a monumental decision.
Where this trend will go from here is still to be written, but locals like Andrea Davis have very real fears that do not have easy prospects for resolution. The future for all of us is largely unknowable, but for many in St. Petersburg it is much less optimistic than for others living within our local community.
Saint Petersburg Forum For Rent Affordability 