Council passes subsidized housing tenant’s rights resolution

The St. Petersburg City Council recently passed a resolution proponents hope will mitigate the effects of state legislation that forced local leaders to scrap their Tenant Bill of Rights.

House Bill 1417 disallowed any local “interference” in landlord-tenant relationships. The legislation, enacted in July 2023, preempted renter protections city officials spent several years codifying.

Councilmember Richie Floyd has led efforts to implement similar safeguards when providing city-owned land or subsidizing affordable housing developments. The resolution passed 7-1 Aug. 15 despite some concerns.

“We have acknowledged the existence of this preemption and its completeness, and that’s why this resolution is decidedly non-regulatory,” said Assistant City Attorney Michael Dema. “It only speaks to, essentially, a policy pronouncement just to consider it when negotiating the city’s own resources, such as money or land, in these types of deals.”

City officials increasingly subsidize affordable and workforce housing developments to combat the ongoing affordable housing crisis. The Whispering Pines Apartments in South St. Petersburg is a recent example.

The development opened Aug. 9 and now provides 20 homes for people overcoming homelessness and families with special needs who earn less than 60% of the area median income (AMI). The city contributed $900,000 for construction.

In a subsequent prepared statement, Mayor Ken Welch credited the Boley Center’s “efforts to provide critical housing” for the city’s most vulnerable residents. “And we look forward to partnering with more organizations who align with our focus on inclusive progress,” he said.

The resolution does not mandate the inclusion of a new “Notice of Rights” in subsidized housing negotiations. However, the mayoral administration must explain to the council why some, all or no aspects of the new document made it into agreements.

“Nobody is forcing anybody to do anything,” Dema said. “And so legal is confident this would be the lightest touch possible.”

The new document features many of the same protections found in the Tenants Bill of Rights, which took effect in February 2020 and underwent several amendments as rents skyrocketed. Notably, it prohibits several forms of income discrimination.

The Notice of Rights states that landlords and property owners must accept renters using housing vouchers, veterans benefits and all other forms of government assistance for payment. HB1417 eliminated those safeguards.

The document requires landlords to issue written notice of impending late fees, provide justification and explain how those penalties accrue. It also prohibits rent increases over 5% without 60 days’ notice.

Developers who agree to the stipulations can only require month-to-month rentals for six months and only after a tenant completes an initial six-month lease. Background documents do not explicitly prohibit other discriminatory practices included in previous ordinances, like familial status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Floyd said he, the city’s legal team and the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee went “out of our way” to ensure the resolution does not violate state law. The Bay Area Apartments Association stated otherwise in an email to officials.

“We’re clearly preempted from doing something like this, on my reading of the bill,” said Councilmember Ed Montanari. “And it seems to me that we’re trying to pass an ordinance to do an end-around state law … I don’t understand why we would even attempt to do something like this.”

Amy Foster, housing and neighborhood services administrator, said the resolution would still allow flexibility during affordable housing negotiations. She said it wouldn’t hinder developers from eschewing any requirements and city officials would detail why those negotiations stalled.

Montanari, a state representative candidate, asked if the mayoral administration supported the initiative. “Generally, yes,” Foster replied.

Montanari called that surprising as legislators “put the kitchen sink” in the bill. Councilmember Gina Driscoll noted that the resolution states the council “is expressly not requiring the inclusion of the Notice of Rights language in affordable housing agreements as a prerequisite for approval.”

“I don’t think the preemption prohibits us from saying the word ‘rights,’” Driscoll added. “I don’t see the words ‘climate change’ in here, so I think we might be all right.”

Her colleagues, sans Montanari, agreed. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard referenced a recent discussion regarding the city’s inability to mandate apprenticeship and disadvantaged worker requirements when soliciting bids for significant construction projects.

“We’re going to have to find creative ways to work with our development community and contractor community to stand by the people of our city,” Gabbard said.