St. Petersburg allocates $20 million for affordable housing
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 21, 2022

St. Petersburg City Council has approved allocating more than $20.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to six affordable housing projects.

In total, 483 affordable units will be delivered via seven projects — six of which will receive ARPA funds. The seventh project will receive support from the Housing Capital Improvement Fund. The affordability period ranges from approximately 40 to 99 years for the different developments. Rising costs from inflation and ongoing supply chain issues have led to some of these projects returning to the city asking for further help.

Bear Creek Commons, 85 units, $4 million in ARPA funds

Innovare, 50 units, $3.43 million in ARPA funds

Vincentian Village, 73 units, $1 million in ARPA funds

Skyway Lofts II, 66 units, $6.5 million in ARPA funds

Burlington Post II, 75 units, $2.94 million in ARPA funds

The St. Petersburg Housing Authority, 70 units, $5.94 million in ARPA funds and $3 million in Penny IV funds

The Flats on Fourth project, 64 units, $610,000 HCIP funds. This allows the development to compete for the 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Staff said they should know by the end of January whether the credit was awarded or not.

Brandi Gabbard, council vice chairwoman, praised the fact that the projects were geographically spread out. Councilwoman Lisset Hanewicz said she loved seeing that the projects have a variety of purposes — some are set aside as senior housing, while others are for the special needs and homeless communities.

The Burlington Post II development will return to council, meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, at a later date requesting $2.685 million in CRA funding. The Flats on Fourth will request an additional $3.15 million in funding from council should they be awarded the 9% LIHTC.

The council also approved a motion to exempt five of the projects, as well as two Habitat for Humanity projects, from the Community Benefits Agreement Program, as they all provide 100% of their units as affordable residences.