ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Valerie Brannon was born legally blind. Now the St. Pete grandmother helps care for her three younger grandchildren who reside together with her, however proper now, due to rent will increase, they don’t have a house to reside in.
“I was paying $1,566 and it went up to $2,400 so I had to leave,” stated Brannon.
Since July 1st, Brannon stated they’ve been dwelling in a lodge whereas attempting to discover a residence to rent. But organizations that combat to assist renters stated skyrocketing rents in St. Pete have made it almost inconceivable to discover someplace reasonably priced.
“If you make less than $50,000 there are effectively no options for you to pay less than 30% of income on rent and that’s over half of the city,” stated Nick Carey, with the group Faith in Florida.
On Thursday, renters packed St. Pete City Hall and pleaded for leaders to do one thing about surging rent costs.
RELATED: Efforts to put rent control in St. Pete on the November poll fails
But regardless of their efforts, St. Pete City Council members scrapped its decision to declare a housing emergency and voted 5 to 3 towards transferring ahead with discussing rent stabilization.
Council Chair Gina Driscoll was one of many 5 who voted towards it and says she’s additionally a renter.
“My hope is that we’re going to move forward and continue our discussions that we’ve been having on other housing solutions that have a clearer path legally and that truly benefit our city,” stated Driscoll.
But different renters stated they’ll continue to combat for one thing to be executed.
“We see this as a win in holding our officials accountable but we’re not going to give this up because it’s not going away for people in the city,” stated Carey.
Brannon stated her religion in God is what retains her hopeful that she will be able to cook dinner heat meals in a house for her grandkids once more sometime quickly.
“Zora’s birthday is in November. So I pray and hope I have a place where I can cook her, her birthday dinner,” stated Brannon.