News & Media
TAMPA, Fla. – Hillsborough County provisionally approved $2 million, spread over the next four years, for Tampa General Hospital’s proposed $60 million apartment complex that once finished will offer its workers affordable housing with rents below market rate.
A 160-unit apartment block on Delaney Creek Boulevard in Brandon will be classified as workforce housing, and the hospital already secured $10 million from the state’s budget. Workers earning between 80% and 120% of the region’s area median income, equivalent to a household income of $114,000 for a family of four, will be offered the units. It could bring relief to nurses, physician’s assistants, janitors and others working at the hospital, hospital officials said. The employer says the development is necessary to help it retain hospital workers.
Steve Harris, a senior vice president for the hospital, said, “We hear from team members and prospective team members that access to housing is increasingly a challenge in Tampa Bay. That’s why we’re working with our state and local partners to invest in more affordable housing options to support our critical health care workforce.”
Tampa General Hospital is not the only system engaged in housing development with Jackson Health System in Miami in talks with a development firm to build workforce housing. Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew says, “Affordable workforce housing supports the recruitment and retention of a skilled, robust health care workforce.”
Other industries are following suit, including the Pinellas County School system, which aims to turn a former school building site in St. Petersburg into 225 apartments, with 113 reserved as workforce housing for district teachers and employees making 90% to 120% of the area’s median income. Other companies are offering down payment and rent assistance benefits to employees.
Source: Tampa Bay Times (08/15/24) O’Donnell, Christopher; Liebson, Rebecca
