Tampa boosts funding for affordable housing by $20M

Tampa’s Community Redevelopment Agency is getting $20.2 million in new funding for affordable housing initiatives after its board approved a revised budget Dec. 8.

According to a statement from the agency, its Citizens Advisory Committees has spent several weeks recently going over budgets in an effort to increase funding for affordable housing in the city’s eight CRA districts.

Lynn Hurtak, CRA chair, says in the statement that “we’ve not only reached the 30% budget goal in funding affordable housing but nearly doubled the amount of money we can allocate from CRA budgets toward solutions to the housing shortage in Tampa.”

With Tampa’s explosive growth the past several years, affordable, attainable and workforce housing has become increasingly difficult to find as home prices and rents have skyrocketed. While rising interest rates have calmed the market some, it is still difficult for many to find a place they can afford in the city.

City leaders are aware of the issue and have worked to find a balance, sometime precarious, between courting growth and making Tampa affordable for established residents.  

Hurtak says in the statement that the additional money pushes the city’s budgets for “safe, affordable housing past $50 million for the fiscal year 2023, and will make a substantial difference for housing in our city.”

According to the statement, the money comes from “new increment revenue and interest earnings.”

The city’s CRA districts include Central Park, Channel District, downtown, Drew Park, East Tampa, Tampa Heights, Tampa Heights Riverfront, West Tampa and Ybor City.