by Linsey Grove, St. Petersburg City Council District 6 Candidate, Contributor
I have been going door-to-door in Campbell Park over the past seven months and have noticed something strange: numerous vacant homes that are neither for sale nor for rent.
In fact, according to one local neighborhood activist, as many as 40% of houses in Campbell Park appear to be vacant.
The most common conversations I have had while canvassing are about making housing more affordable. The same themes emerge: “my rent is too high,” “I can’t afford to buy a house,” and “utilities like water, sewer, and electricity have gone up.”
Adding to this are the residents displaced by Hurricanes Milton and Helene; their housing needs have exacerbated rental prices and availability. One would think that South St. Petersburg, an area with affordable housing, would be seeing an influx of homebuyers looking for higher ground.
So, why are almost 2 out of every 5 houses vacant?
A major culprit: large corporations. According to the 2024 Tampa Bay Times series “Buying Up the Bay,” about 27,000 area homes were owned by corporate investors and private equity. In this series, Campbell Park is one of the neighborhoods featured. These often out-of-state corporate investors buy homes for cash above the asking price, and then the homes either sit vacant or are rented. This has reduced the available single-family homes for individual buyers. The Times reported that shell companies making the purchases are backed by investment companies like BlackRock and Koch Industries.
Many families and residents I’ve spoken with are worried about this trend; some are frustrated that they are being pushed out of the neighborhoods they grew up in. They don’t have the income to enter the current market, and the houses they could afford are quickly bought up by private investors.
I sat with two residents on their front porch and discussed their struggles to afford repairs to their house. Living on a fixed income and chronic health conditions has made them consider their options–especially with daily calls, texts, and mail from investors looking to buy their property. We talked about city programs that could help them, but many are on hold. Without proper rehabilitation, long-time residents and those who inherit their properties are left with few options other than selling.
As a city council candidate, I want to address the lack of affordable housing. Communities across the country are fighting back against large corporations stealing opportunities for first-time homeowners and generational wealth-building.
Congress is currently attempting to address this by pushing for the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. This bipartisan bill limits the purchase of single-family homes by large institutional investors to 350 or fewer and provides exemptions for those who want to purchase or build single-family homes for the rental market, as long as they are sold to a homeowner after seven years.
Last year, State Representative Berny Jacques filed House Bill 401, which would have allowed municipalities to rezone neighborhoods for single-family ownership, shut out large corporate investors, and limit rentals. Unfortunately, the bill died in committee.
Because housing is a systemic issue, it will require systemic solutions. Limiting institutional investor ownership is one of many tools we can use to help increase affordable housing.
Many believe we can just build our way out of this. That might be a solution for more rural counties, but in our city, with 41% designated Coastal High Hazard Area, we have to be creative. Preserving single-family housing is one way we can start to create an affordable St. Pete for all. We can do this by advocating for local policies similar to those introduced at the federal and state levels.
Some may say that this is too much government intervention in the market. But the bigger question is, intervention for whom?
From every level of government, we see market intervention favoring large corporations and developers at the expense of taxpayers. We have allowed large corporations to buy up housing while families and workers get pushed out of their neighborhoods and live further away from their jobs and communities. Instead, we can choose, as a city, to create an accessible, affordable community for all by protecting neighborhoods from private investors and making housing accessible for residents.
Contact information: vote@groveforstpete.com www.groveforstpete.com IG: @groveforstpete FB: Linsey Grove for St. Pete City Council District 6
