At Thursday’s council meeting, SPTU Organizer William Kilgore told members the concern is that foreclosure proceedings could lead to the building being sold at auction.
Rather than have another corporate landlord come in, he said a city acquisition could offer residents of the troubled complex some stability.
What You Need To Know
The St. Petersburg Tenants Union told city council members Thursday that residents want the city to take over The Morgan Apartments
A tenants union organizer says the concern is that the foreclosure process could lead to the building being sold at auction to another corporate landlord
The city says there are no plans to acquire The Morgan, and a Lurin spokesperson says the company doesn’t believe that step is justified
“The city has a responsibility to step in,” Kilgore told council.
“The city needs to take care of its residents,” said another speaker. “The out-of-state landlords do not care about us.”
Nat Pudlak didn’t attend the meeting. She said she’s lived at The Morgan for three years and describes her time there as not the worst, but also not the best.
“I had a pipe bust on me,” she said. “Then, my ceiling caved in because of a pest problem that we had. So, they had a rat infestation.”
From shuttered pools to mold, Pudlak said The Morgan has its share of issues. So, when she heard about the push to get the city to take over the property, she wasn’t against it.
St. Petersburg Public Information Officer Samantha Bequer said in a statement, “At this time, the city does not have plans to acquire the Morgan property. Right now, our focus is on collecting the remainder of the outstanding water services balance and providing assistance and information to residents wanting to relocate from the property.”
“They do have the money. They do have the ability. It’s a matter of political will, is what it is, and they don’t have the will to do it,” said Kilgore.
Kilgore praised city staff for the help provided to residents so far, but he said more needs to be done for tenants.
“I agree with exactly where they’re coming from,” said Councilmember Richie Floyd. “I think when the private sector fails, the public sector needs to step in.”
According to Floyd, codes staff visited The Morgan frequently to address issues. He said he’s supported a possible city takeover at past council meetings.
“I think we definitely need to be involved in this process, even if the administration’s not interested in going the direction I am,” he said. “But I would love to continue the conversation any way I can.”
As for Pudlak, she said of the residents who lived at the complex when she moved in, she’s one of the few who remain — but not for long.
“Nope. No. Instant no,” she said when asked if she planned to stay. “As soon as my lease is up in October, I’m personally moving over to Bradenton.”
Lurin spokesperson Ed Cafasso said in a statement that The Morgan is operating normally, and the company is working to strengthen its longterm financial stability. It reads in part, “While we understand the demand by some residents for the city to seize the property, we do not believe such an unusual step is justified or in the community’s best interest.”
Bequer said the city is monitoring the potential foreclosure of the property and is working through the litigation process related to unpaid water bills.
Attendees listened to a personal testimony of housing troubles from Brian Douglas of the Miami Workers Center during the PACT Nehemiah Action Assembly on Monday, April 7, 2025, at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in Cutler Bay, Florida. Interfaith groups held the annual assembly to press elected leaders to make housing more affordable in Miami-Dade County.
Alie Skowronski
askowronski@miamiherald.com
As South Florida grapples with a housing affordability crisis, the city of Miami could free up hundreds of acres of land owned by religious groups, schools, government entities and nonprofit institutions for potential affordable housing development.
On Thursday, the City Commission is slated to vote on a proposal from District 4 Commissioner Ralph Rosado to allow for the development of affordable housing, including mixed-use residential development, on land that has a place of worship on site or is zoned for certain civic uses. The city’s planning department said it has identified over 660 properties with a total of nearly 1,800 acres that fall into those categories.
“It’s not a cure-all, but it’s one more tool to address an important issue,” Rosado said in an interview this week. “I mean, we’re using, essentially, community land to solve a community problem, which is our housing crisis.”
The Miami proposal follows a Florida Senate bill passed last year that gives local governments the option to allow the development of mixed-use housing on land owned by a religious institution, as long as at least 10% of the units in a given project meet the definition of “affordable.”
That legislation is part of a movement dubbed “yes in God’s backyard,” or “YIGBY” for short, as an alternative to “NIMBY,” the pejorative acronym for “not in my backyard” used to describe anti-development advocates.
Sevanne Steiner, assistant director of Miami’s planning department, said at a Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board meeting in November that the city’s proposed legislation is intended “to better align with the state law.” Rosado said that in light of state-imposed rules like the Live Local Act that override local density limits, it’s important for the city to craft its own legislation where it can.
“I’d rather we be proactive and shape things in a way that makes sense for us,” Rosado said. At least one other Florida city, St. Petersburg, has adopted so-called YIGBY legislation in response to last year’s Senate bill.
Rosado’s proposal takes the bill a step further, expanding to also include land owned by nonprofits, government entities, and elementary, middle and high schools — public and private. It also has a higher bar for the percentage of affordable housing, requiring a minimum of 50% of units in a given project to be affordable, according to Rosado’s office.
A breakdown from the city’s planning department shows a total of 667 parcels that are either owned by a religious group or zoned as a civic institution across the city. The breakdown of those parcels by district is as follows:
District 1, which includes Allapattah and Flagami: 180
District 2, which includes downtown and Coconut Grove: 80
District 3, which includes Little Havana and East Shenandoah: 67
District 4, which includes Coral Gate and Shenandoah: 93
District 5, which includes Little Haiti and Wynwood: 247
More than 270 of the total parcels — or roughly 40% — are religious properties, according to the city’s analysis. Two-thirds of the 667 parcels identified are less than an acre in size.
Rosado noted that land owned by the city and Miami-Dade County is included in the identified parcels and that the legislation would provide an avenue to use more city-owned land for development. He emphasized that parks are not included in his legislation and are not up for grabs for development.
“But everything else should be considered,” Rosado said.
If the City Commission approves the legislation Thursday, it will need to come back once more for a second and final vote at a subsequent meeting.
Tess Riski covers Miami City Hall. She joined the Miami Herald in 2022 and has covered local politics throughout Miami-Dade County. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School’s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday for the second phase of Skyway Lofts in St. Petersburg, adding 66 new units of affordable housing to the Skyway Marina District.
Public and private leaders say as the Skyway Marina District continues to grow, preserving housing for people earning less than 80 percent of the area median income is critical.
According to the builders, the mid-rise development consists of two buildings and offers 131 thoughtfully designed one- and two-bedroom apartment homes. Each apartment features multiple energy-efficient elements, including modern kitchens, bathrooms and ample storage closets.
One resident says the $24.9 million development in the 3900 block of 34th Street South has given him stability in the neighborhood where he grew up.
“When I see people who are homeless, I’m grateful to have a roof over my head,” said resident Terrell Reynolds.
Skyway Lofts Phase Two is at full occupancy, but there is a waitlist available for future renters.
Use the video link above for more from Spectrum Bay News 9’s Fadia Patterson.
Friday, Jan. 16, marks the 16th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did today.
The City has secured a $2.1 million settlement with a landlord responsible for 14 buildings across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, addressing more than 4,000 building code violations and allegations of tenant harassment.
The settlement, announced Friday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, comes shortly after it was finalized by a judge in early January and signals the city’s intention to use the case as a model for holding negligent landlords accountable.
The settlement covers multiple legal actions and requires the landlord to correct the hazardous conditions and comply with court-issued injunctions preventing further tenant harassment.
While negotiations and initial enforcement took place under the previous administration, city officials emphasized that the Mamdani administration will actively use such settlements to advance tenant protections and ensure safe, livable housing.
“Every tenant in New York City has a right to a safe and livable home, and our administration intends to use enforcement tools like these to deliver exactly that,” Mayor Mamdani said. “This settlement will provide relief for tenants who have long suffered from poor conditions and harassment, and demonstrates the type of accountability we will continue to pursue across the city.”
Queens Council Member Shekar Krishnan, whose district includes the highest concentration of affected properties in Jackson Heights, praised tenants, advocacy groups, and city enforcement.
Council member Shekar KrishnanPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
“Every repair we’ve won leaves us with ten more to fight for — their buildings are revolving doors of neglect and major housing violations,” he said. “I’m thankful that Mayor Mamdani and [the Department of Housing Preservation and Development] HPD, on day 16 of the new era, are signaling a new approach to protecting tenants.”
Tenant Diana de la Pava, who has lived in one of the buildings for more than 13 years, detailed chronic elevator outages, mold, pests, and other unsafe conditions affecting elderly and disabled residents.
She described how broken elevators effectively trapped some residents and contributed to preventable health crises. “This is not a communication failure. It is a business model for A & E,” she said during the press conference.
A & E Realty responded with a statement saying it reached the settlement in collaboration with the city. The company noted that it has invested in rehabbing elevators, replacing boilers, and addressing longstanding violations across its portfolio, and added that it is delivering on a repair plan agreed with HPD.
“We look forward to partnering with the City to improve the lives of our residents and continue investing in New York City’s housing stock,” a spokesperson said.
Incoming Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Dina Levy Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
HPD officials highlighted that the settlement represents the largest in the Anti-Harassment Unit’s history.
Over the course of litigation, more than 1,000 violations have already been corrected, with nearly $500,000 in additional emergency repairs made. The city stressed that its enforcement tools include civil contempt motions, emergency repairs, and injunctions to prevent tenant harassment, demonstrating a proactive approach to holding landlords accountable.
The Mamdani administration plans to use this case as a template for future enforcement actions, including upcoming “rental rip-off” hearings in all five boroughs within the first 100 days. The hearings are designed to give tenants a direct voice in shaping housing policy, tracking violations, and ensuring landlords are held accountable in real time.
Incoming Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Dina Levy said, “By holding bad actors accountable, we are making it clear that no landlord will escape the consequences of violating the Housing Maintenance Code. Tenants should not have to fight day in and day out for basic services — these are fundamental rights.”
Budget: Trash trucks to tax hikes
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
As new sanitation workers were sworn in on Friday, Mayor Mamdani praised the municipal workforce for keeping New York running through long hours, extreme weather, and often unseen work — a reminder of the city’s reliance on essential services even as officials confront mounting fiscal pressures.
“New York City cannot function without the work that each of you will be doing,” Mamdani told graduates and their families gathered in One Police Plaza. He called sanitation workers “unsung heroes” whose efforts maintain core services day in and day out, from snow removal to street cleaning.
“You have something that few others hold, whether in the city or in this world, a noble purpose. It is the purpose of restoring dignity to the lives of your neighbors, the purpose of making New York new, “Mamdani said, before paying tribute to Brian Dunn, who passed away due to a medical emergency while on duty in the Bronx on Jan. 7.
The graduation ceremony was led by interim Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan, who served under former mayor Eric Adams and was retained by Mamdani to oversee the department through the winter, ensuring continuity of essential services as new workers join the ranks.
“This wasn’t caused by a bad economy — it’s the result of budgeting decisions from the previous administration that we must now deal with,” Levine said.
Responding to Levine’s assessment in a statement and during a press briefing later in the day, Mamdani agreed the city faces a serious fiscal challenge, while placing responsibility on both his predecessor and state leadership of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
He cited what he described as fiscal mismanagement by the prior administration and a long-standing imbalance in the city’s financial relationship with the state, arguing that New York City contributes a disproportionate share of state tax revenue in return for what it receives.
“We cannot have it such that a New Yorker would go to sleep on a Friday and wonder if on a Saturday their basic services will be in doubt,” Mamdani said at a press conference in Queens, saying he had inheritied a City Hall from Adams that “exhibited incredible fiscal mismanagement, but also a decades long effort from former Governor Cuomo to pilfer from city coffers at each and every turn.”
“And what that has left this city with is, as described by the comptroller, not only a fiscal hole, but frankly, a relationship between city and state, where the city contributes 54.5% of the state’s tax revenues, but only receives. 40.5% in return,” he continued.
Mamdani said his administration would press Albany to address this imbalance as budget negotiations move forward. To help close projected gaps and fund major policy initiatives, he has proposed raising taxes, backing an increase in the state’s corporate tax rate for large companies to 11.5%, up from 7.25%, and additional income taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million annually.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has ruled out raising taxes on high-income earners in this year’s state budget, though she has left open the possibility of changes to corporate income taxes. She did not propose any tax increases in her State of the State address earlier this week.
With a redevelopment firm officially selected for the project, the decades-old library and community center in D.C.’s Chevy Chase neighborhood could soon be replaced.
View of new Chevy Chase development plan from Connecticut Ave.
(Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development)
Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
Renderings of the new Chevy Chase redevelopment plans. View from the Connecticut Ave site entry angle.
(Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development)
Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
Public space area mapped out as part of the Chevy Chase Library and Community Center redevelopment plans.
(Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development)
Courtesy Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
With a redevelopment firm officially selected for the project, the decades-old library and community center in D.C.’s Chevy Chase neighborhood could soon be replaced.
Eight proposals were submitted, and Rift Valley was chosen, according to Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert. She said the redevelopment plan includes 177 units of affordable and market-rate housing.
“Rift Valley exceeded expectations in a couple different ways,” she said of the D.C.-based company. “They beautifully integrated and incorporated civic facilities — a public library and a community recreation center.”
The redevelopment will replace the existing library and community center, originally built in 1968 and 1971, with a new 23,500-square-foot library and a 21,600-square-foot community center.
Albert said a sizable portion of the new housing — 30% — will be affordable housing.
“There will be a mix of housing levels,” she said. “So 30% which is at 50% of area medium income and below, and the rest at market rate.”
The housing will include a range of unit sizes, including studios and homes with one, two or three bedrooms.
The development includes expanded outdoor space, including a play park and public plaza, flexible sports and events courts, an amphitheater, a roof terrace and outdoor classroom, and a lawn and native plant garden.
While the price tag of the redevelopment has yet to be detailed, Albert indicated it may be some time yet before construction gets underway. She told WTOP that next steps will include a series of community meetings and negotiations for a land disposition agreement.
The library has also committed to a two-year engagement plan with the community, Albert said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office pointed out the project fulfills her pledge to fund, rebuild or renovate all 26 D.C. library locations.
“We’ve set ambitious goals for our city and we’re meeting them by advancing innovative projects like the Chevy Chase Civic Site,” Bowser said in a news release about the project.
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PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday for the second phase of Skyway Lofts in St. Petersburg, adding 66 new units of affordable housing to the Skyway Marina District.
Public and private leaders say as the Skyway Marina District continues to grow, preserving housing for people earning less than 80 percent of the area median income is critical.
According to the builders, the mid-rise development consists of two buildings and offers 131 thoughtfully designed one- and two-bedroom apartment homes. Each apartment features multiple energy-efficient elements, including modern kitchens, bathrooms, and ample storage closets.
One resident says the $24.9 million development in the 3900 block of 34th Street South has given him stability in the neighborhood where he grew up.
“When I see people who are homeless, I’m grateful to have a roof over my head,” said resident Terrell Reynolds.
Skyway Lofts Phase Two is at full occupancy, but there is a waitlist available for future renters.
Hochul discusses universal childcare, including plans to partner with the private sector.
The governor proposed major investments in affordable housing and manufactured housing to lower costs and speed construction.
Hochul emphasized workforce development, including free community college expansion and a new nuclear energy workforce program.
She pushed back on critics by pledging investments without raising taxes or increasing long-term state debt.
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address in Albany on Tuesday. With a focus on affordability, she spoke about universal childcare, housing, education, infrastructure, energy and more, all at a time of shifting federal funding cuts under the Trump administration.
But New York, she said, could handle it.
“We’ve built the boat to withstand the storm,” she said. “Because we’ve managed our money responsibly, we’re able to make transformative investments in our future. Without raising taxes. Without saddling the next generation with mounds of debt.”
Take childcare. Last week, Hochul announced a $1.7 billion plan to expand universal childcare in New York. Statewide, there is a plan for universal pre-K for every 4-year-old by 2028. This year, the state aims to pilot community-wide childcare to provide year-round, full-day, affordable care for newborns to 3-year-olds.
Hochul said Tuesday that she would build on the success of the state’s childcare assistance and voucher programs, “so tens of thousands more families can access high quality care for no more than $15 a week. And thanks to our strong economy, we have the revenue to get these initiatives off the ground.”
But she said the state would also need to partner with the private sector and working with employers would “improve tax incentives for those who invest in childcare benefits.”
Hochul said she would expand on an initiative introduced last year that offered free community college for adults pursuing education for high-demand careers that include healthcare and manufacturing. To date, an estimated 11,000 people have enrolled.
“This year let’s expand that opportunity even further, adding new fields like logistics, air traffic control and emergency management,” she said.
She spoke too of expanding the state’s nuclear power as part of an “all of the above” energy approach.
“And to make sure New Yorkers are ready, we’ll launch a nuclear workforce development program, so we can forge our clean energy future together,” she said.
But, she added, “our energy system exists to serve New Yorkers first. Data centers are vital for an innovative future. But they guzzle up tremendous amounts of energy and leave ratepayers footing the bill. So, if they want to build in New York, they’ll have to pay their fair share for the power they use and ultimately generate their own power independently.”
Hochul also said that this year “we’ll invest an additional $250 million for affordable housing and $100 million to scale innovative, manufactured housing that lowers costs and speeds construction.
She proposed eliminating the red tape that is “pushing up costs and pushing opportunity further out of reach.”
And she added, that when “communities say yes to housing, infrastructure or clean energy, we’re going to let them build.”
Other measures include potentially banning artificial intelligence in political ads, combatting auto insurance fraud and eliminating taxes on tips.
Hochul, a Democrat, gave her State of the State address as she campaigns for reelection this year.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, is also vying for the gubernatorial seat.
“Albany keeps repeating the same cycle — spend more, tax more, and promise it will work next time,” Blakeman said in a statement. “Programs marketed as ‘free’ are paid for with higher taxes or long-term debt, and working families are left holding the bill.”
Matt Cohen, president and CEO of the Long Island Association, said in a written statement that “2026 will be a pivotal year for elected officials in tackling the affordability crisis.”
He added that Hochul’s “commitment to supporting childcare, which helps boost the workforce and streamlining the regulatory process so developers can build sorely needed new housing are important steps on the long road of addressing our shared challenges on Long Island.”
President Trump last week proposed two policies aimed at reducing the cost of buying a home, as soaring prices and elevated mortgage rates make homeownership increasingly unattainable for many Americans.
“It is one of my many steps in restoring Affordability,” Mr. Trump said in a Jan. 8 social media post of the proposed mortgage debt purchase.
Buying a home has become far more expensive in recent years as home prices have surged, driven by a shortage of affordable housing and, since 2022, rising mortgage rates. But because many of those pressures lie beyond the federal government’s direct control, it’s unclear how much Mr. Trump’s proposals could ultimately lower costs, according to experts.
America’s housing shortage
Mr. Trump’s approach aims to tackle two core issues with the housing market — higher mortgage rates and competition for homes from institutional investors. Yet experts say these strategies will do little to address one of the housing market’s thorniest problems: a shortage of homes for sale.
The supply issue partly reflects years of underbuilding after the 2008 financial crisis, as well as the reluctance of homeowners who locked in ultra-low mortgage rates during the ensuing recession to relinquish their properties.
“There is an undersupply of housing in the U.S., and that will take time to resolve,” Gennadiy Goldberg, head of U.S. rates strategy for TD Securities, told CBS News.
The U.S. would need to build as many as 4 million additional homes beyond the normal pace of construction to address the housing shortage, according to Goldman Sachs.
Janneke Ratcliffe, vice president of housing and communities at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, told CBS News that the housing market’s supply challenges could be harder to address.
“Most solutions to create new housing take a long time to come to fruition,” she said.
For example, high land costs make it hard to add to the housing supply. One solution, Ratcliffe said, would be to change local zoning rules so more homes can be squeezed into a given area. Yet such policies are set at the local level, not by the federal government, she noted.
Why lower mortgage rates aren’t a panacea
Because Mr. Trump’s policies address the demand side of the equation, they could inadvertently drive up home prices, Goldberg said. For instance, a decline in mortgage rates could draw more buyers into the market, pushing home prices higher and exacerbating the supply problem.
“If consumers are able to afford more homes because monthly payments are lower, home prices tend to rise more quickly,” the analyst told CBS News. “So simply lowering the cost of buying a home through the mortgage channel isn’t sufficient to fix the problem in the long run.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s plan to ban big investors, such as Invitation Homes and financial giant Blackstone, from hoovering up single-family homes might have only a limited effect on the market, according to Goldberg. The reason: investors that own at least 100 properties account for only roughly 1% of the total single-family housing stock in the U.S., according to the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
“That’s a relatively small impact,” Goldberg said.
Mr. Trump also hasn’t said whether institutional investors would be required to sell the homes they currently own, he pointed out. If those firms are not forced to put those properties on the market, a ban is unlikely to significantly expand the supply of homes, Goldberg said.
Still, Mr. Trump’s policies could make a small difference, some housing market experts said.
“Mortgages will be a little cheaper, and housing will be a little more affordable,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist and managing director of High Frequency Economics, told CBS News, adding that banning institutional investors from scooping up homes could “bring prices down a little.”
Ben Ayres, a senior economist at Nationwide Financial, estimated that the government buying $200 billion in mortgage securities could reduce home loan rates by up to 0.35 percentage points, which could “spur more spending activity.”
The upshot: Meaningful progress will require tackling the shortage of available homes, economists agreed. Unless that issue is addressed, the housing affordability crunch will persist, said Edward Pinto, senior fellow and co-director of the AEI Housing Center at the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute.
“We need to either activate the existing supply that is underutilized, or take steps to allow the building of new homes,” Pinto said. “We need to come up with supply-side solutions that take effect quickly.”
An RV park in Sheridan that has accommodated low-cost housing for decades will close to make way for a new apartment complex, leaving dozens of residents looking for new places as Colorado remains short on affordable housing and such alternatives as mobile home communities.
The Sheridan City Council in November approved rezoning the 16-acre Flying Saucer RV Park at the intersection of West Hampden Avenue and South Bryant Street. Indiana-based Garrett Companies will submit plans to the city for a seven-building, 362-unit complex, replacing the 162 spots for recreational vehicles and tiny homes.
Garrett and the family that has owned the property for 75 years are expected to close the deal by the end of June. Residents will have to move out by then.
The developer and the family haven’t disclosed the financial terms.
Anne Whipple, part of the fourth generation of the family to run the business, told Sheridan council members that the decision to sell the property wasn’t made lightly. She read a statement saying the family struggled with ending its legacy of “providing a safe, quiet community for tenants that the City of Sheridan has come to know.”
But Whipple said the time, cost and energy to keep the park going are unsustainable. The park’s owner, 94-year-old Lucille Tourney, wants “to release her family from this burden,” she added.
After learning last summer that the site was for sale and being eyed for new development, Steve Ohlfest started a website to rally support for saving Flying Saucer. Ohlfest, a 21-year park resident, urged people to turn out for public meetings on the project. He even contacted area mobile home park owners to gauge their interest in the property.
Now, Ohlfest and his wife, Tina, aren’t sure where their next home will be. Just a handful of RV parks in metro Denver allow year-round living and their rates are generally higher. The Ohlfests are 16th on a waiting list for a spot in Loveland where they could move their tiny home. A Woodland Park site that caters to tiny homes hasn’t had anyone leave in five years.
A community in Montrose that accepts tiny homes is a possibility for them. They expect to pay thousands of dollars to haul their 26,000-pound home and other belongings to the Western Slope if they move there.
“What are our other options? We can’t afford a house in Denver,” Ohlfest said.
Garrett Companies said it will hire a consultant to work with individual Flying Saucer residents who need help moving their recreational vehicles, finding a place to live or applying for housing and social services. The company said in December that residents should hear from the consultant after the first of the year.
“The intent is to do right by people, particularly people of lesser means and people who are older,” said Cary Brazeman, a spokesman for Garrett.
Meredith Long has rented a spot at Flying Saucer for three years, living in a travel trailer part of the year and moving it to Steamboat Springs where she runs a business during the winter. Long said park residents include people who travel back and forth from other homes, retirees and disabled veterans who’ve lived there for several years.
Several have turned the park that runs along Bear Creek and has tree-lined roads into long-term homes with fenced yards and outdoor decks.
“They kept trying to say it is temporary housing and never meant to be permanent, but that’s not how they operated it,” Long said of the park’s owners.
The room was packed for an October Sheridan planning commission meeting on the project, Long said. After the planning commission recommended that the city council approve the rezoning, she said turnout for the meetings dropped because people felt defeated.
Flying Saucer RV Park in Sheridan, Colorado on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
“For me it’s just been the process that’s been the most frustrating, with the lack of communication and transparency from the city of Sheridan,” Long said.
The park owners haven’t kept residents informed either, she added. People are uneasy after a couple of tenants were served eviction notices in the last few months, Long said.
Whipple, the onsite manager at Flying Saucer, declined to talk to The Denver Post about Long’s concerns. She told the city council in the November meeting that 40 of the park’s spots were vacant.
“There have been several people who have left without paying rent, leaving us with significant expenses,” Whipple said.
City officials said they’ve kept in touch with Flying Saucer residents while considering the development plans. The city held a neighborhood meeting in June on the proposed rezoning. Notices of the planning commission and city council meetings were sent to property owners and residents within 300 feet of the RV park, including the individual RV spots.
Notice was published in the Littleton Independent newspaper and signs in English and Spanish were posted on the property, according to the city.
Home sweet home?
Sheridan Community Development Director Andrew Rogge said the Garrett Companies’ rezoning application met city criteria and was consistent with the goals of the city’s comprehensive plan. He said rezoning the property from business/light industrial to planned unit development will make the site more compatible with surrounding properties, which include the River Point at Sheridan shopping center.
And Rogge noted that a 2025 housing needs assessment showed Sheridan is short of 309 units and will need 409 more units over the next 10 years.
Rents for the apartments that will replace the RV park will be market-rate. Rogge said in an email that Sheridan doesn’t have an ordinance requiring the developer to build a certain number of affordable housing units.
However, city officials said two affordable housing projects were recently approved. One development will add 149 apartment units. A Habitat for Humanity project will add 63 single-family homes.
A Garrett representative said during the June neighborhood meeting that rents for its apartments would likely range from $1,600 to $2,600.
“I couldn’t afford your apartment and I make good money,” Councilman Ernie Camacho.told Garrett representatives during the council meeting.
Camacho, the lone vote against rezoning the RV park, voiced support for more single-family homes rather than apartments.
The council members who favored rezoning said they cared about the fate of the RV park’s residents, but respected the owner’s right to sell the property. They also said the limited terms of the leases underscored that the park wasn’t intended to be a permanent home.
Whipple said when the family decided in 2024 to put the property on the market, they let new tenants know the leases would be capped at six months. Before then, leases were month to month but didn’t have a maximum term.
Dawn Shepherd of Littleton urged the city council to reject the rezoning application. The former director of the Englewood Housing Authority said Sheridan has typically tried to provide housing for lower-income residents.
“I feel like they didn’t have a very good choice in this case,” Shepherd said.
She’s skeptical about how much Garrett’s consultant can do for residents. “It sounds good, that they’re going to get a house specialist to help them.”
But similar options don’t exist, she said.
Shepherd believes Ohlfest, a fellow Englewood Rotary Club member, and his wife will land on their feet. She’s not as optimistic about others at the Flying Saucer park. She worries they’ll have to resort to parking their RVs on city streets or in Walmart parking lots.
“That’s not home,” Shepherd said. “That’s not having a place to go.”
LARGO, Fla. — A new housing complex for seniors officially opens Thursday, marking the first in a series of upgrades and changes to Largo’s Rainbow Village neighborhood.
The original Rainbow Village is a public housing development that built in the late 1960s, consisted of 200 units
Heritage Oaks marks the first part of a 4-phase redevelopment plan for the area. Those who were living in the homes that were demolished to make way for Heritage Oaks were placed into alternative housing situations with help from Pinellas County or went to live with family.
Yvette Feazell, 64, was one of the first residents of Heritage Oaks when she moved in November. She says since graduating college, she had lived independently until 18 months ago when rent spiked and she had to move out of her apartment. She spent just over a year living with her daughter and her four grandchildren.
“It was nice but I felt like I was imposing,” she said. “I’ve lived independently almost all my life.”
Heritage Oaks is for seniors living at 60% of the average median income in Pinellas County. Feazell said being in a place that’s safe, nice and affordable is what she had been hoping for.
“It takes the stress off of… am I going to be able to afford to live in this apartment? Is the rent going to jump up like it did in my last apartment where people are like… I can’t afford that,” she recalled.
The $31 million project was made possible by Raymond James Affordable Housing Investments and Raymond James Bank, $3.36 million in Pinellas County HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, low-income tax credits allocated by Florida Housing Finance Corporation, PCHA funds, and HUD rental assistance.
Thursday’s ribbon cutting of Heritage Oaks marks the first of four planned phases to re-imagine Rainbow Village. In all, 400 units of housing for families and individuals will replace the 200 units that were built in the 1960s.
Heritage Oaks is a product of Newstar Development, a full-service development firm specializing in affordable and workforce housing.
Both a housing shortage and rising rents in the greater D.C. region are becoming problems that present a long-term economic risk, a new report indicates.
Both a housing shortage and rising rents in the greater D.C. region are becoming problems that present a long-term economic risk, a new report indicates.
From Baltimore through D.C. and down to Richmond, rising housing costs are deterring job seekers and pushing workers to leave for more affordable areas, according to a new report from the Greater Washington Partnership.
Kathy Hollinger, CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership, said the ability to find and afford homes has become a critical issue.
“It has become one of the most material constraints on talent recruitment, retention and long-term economic competitiveness,” Hollinger said.
The group’s housing playbook found that the region is short roughly 390,000 housing units.
Of that shortage, D.C. accounts for the largest share, followed by Baltimore and Richmond. The report said vacancy rates are at historic lows, and about half of all renters in the region are feeling pressed.
“Half of renters are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of income on housing,” Hollinger said.
Employers are feeling the effects when it comes to hiring, especially for entry and mid-level positions. One way it shows up is when people turn down job offers after doing the math.
“Candidates are declining offers after running basic cost of living numbers,” she said.
To bring about change, the housing playbook calls for zoning reform, which would allow more housing to be built near job centers and transit. It also calls for faster and more predictable permitting to speed up development.
“Plans don’t move housing, but approvals do,” Hollinger said.
The report also stressed the importance of preserving existing affordable housing, which it said can often be done more quickly and at a lower cost than building new housing.
The playbook encourages not just local governments, but also employers, to invest in solutions. Hollinger said some major corporations, including JPMorgan Chase and Amazon, have already invested in the region.
Hollinger said companies aren’t treating housing investments as charity, but as a practical way to support their workforce and keep their businesses running.
“This is not philanthropy on the part of private sector. For private sector, it’s workforce infrastructure,” she said.
Without action, Hollinger warned the region risks losing more than just workers.
“If we are not thinking about how we collaboratively address this issue, we are at risk for losing more talent; not only talent, but families,” she said.
She said that would also mean the greater D.C. region risks losing its future leadership pipeline.
New owner plans $23M in renovations, averaging $55,000 per unit
Property will retain long-term affordability through a renewed HUD Section 8 contract
Deal marks HVPG’s first property in Nassau County and expansion on Long Island
Hudson Valley Property Group, a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm specializing in affordable housing, has closed on its $107 million acquisition of Hempstead apartment property.
Built in 1972, the six-story, 420-unit building is a federally subsidized property that has seen its share of police activity over the years. Its new owner is planning on investing $23 million in renovations, averaging $55,000 per unit, according to a company statement.
The planned work includes building modernization, kitchen and bathroom upgrades, and overall quality of life improvements. The renovations will also include elevator upgrades, repairs, parking garage repairs, a security overhaul, including high-resolution and night-vision security, as well as refurbishing of the Hempstead Police Department substation, according to the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency. The IDA approved economic incentives last summer for the acquisition and renovation project.
100 Terrace Ave. Hempstead / Courtesy of D&F Development Group
The Hempstead complex was formerly owned by 100 Terrace LLC, an affiliate of a partnership headed by Long Island-based D&F Development Group, which purchased it for $27.5 million at the end of 2006, according to public records.
The acquisition marks HVPG’s first property in Nassau County and expands the firm’s presence on Long Island, where it also operates the 50-unit Plaza at Amityville apartments.
“We are proud to expand our footprint on Long Island and bring our preservation expertise to Hempstead,” Jason Bordainick, co-founder and managing partner of Hudson Valley Property Group, said in the statement. “100 Terrace represents a critical component of the area’s affordable housing infrastructure, and we’re committed to ensuring these 420 homes remain safe, accessible, and affordable for working families for generations to come. Through thoughtful investment and strategic partnerships with HUD and local stakeholders, we’re preserving not just housing, but stability and opportunity for this community.”
To ensure long-term affordability at the Hempstead property, HVPG has secured a renewed HUD Project-Based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment contract covering 99 percent of the building’s units. Income-qualified residents will pay no more than 30 percent of their household income toward rent, with affordability protections locked in for an additional 22 years. The property is further restricted to income-qualified residents earning no more than 50 percent of the area median income, the company said.
The total project, which is estimated by HVPG at $145 million, is being financed through HVPG’s Hudson Valley Preservation Fund and a Fannie Mae loan provided by KeyBank. HVPG said it worked closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Hempstead IDA to structure the preservation transaction.
“We welcome this investment by Hudson Valley Property Group and with our assistance, tenants, the Village of Hempstead, and the Town of Hempstead will benefit from the revitalization of this property and the creation of a safe, attractive, and well-maintained affordable housing community,” Hempstead IDA Executive Director Fred Parola said in the statement.
Founded in 2010, HVPG has since acquired more than 15,400 affordable apartments across the country, according to its website.
Michael Tuccillo of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer, while the seller was self-represented in the Hempstead transaction.
SUPERIOR, Colo. — Four years after the Marshall Fire destroyed Superior’s most affordable neighborhoods, the town is turning to accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as one path toward rebuilding lost housing.
An ADU is a separate, secondary dwelling built on the same lot as the main residence.
“Historically, our original town was the more affordable area of town,” said Renae Stavros, planning and building director for the Town of Superior. “But we lost all of it to the Marshall Fire.”
She explained the original homes in the neighborhoods near town hall were built in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.
“They were just naturally affordable before, and once gone, the cost of the land is much higher now. The cost for construction, the cost for materials, really, just in order to build a house today, especially in Boulder County—it’s expensive,” she said. “Affordable housing in Superior, as of today, doesn’t really exist.”
Throughout this month, Denver7 has checked in with metro-area communities receiving funds from the first-ever Colorado Department of Local Affairs Accessory Dwelling Unit Grant Program.
Superior will receive $225,000, which they will put toward their Superior Building Today: Encouraging ADUs in the Town of Superior program, with the town providing $75,000 in matching funds.
Part of the plan is to develop pre-approved ADU designs for homeowners to choose from.
It’s similar to what the City of Brighton plans to do with its grant.
Brighton
Brighton to streamline permitting process for ADUs offering pre-approved plans
“Having a pre-set design will help you get through that process a lot faster,” said Michael Martinez, city manager for the City of Brighton, when Denver7 reported on the city’s ADU plan.
Superior also plans to research how to waive building fees or offset ADU costs in certain cases, using a consultant in the upcoming year.
Larimer County to waive building permit fees for affordable ADU rentals
“In exchange for keeping that housing affordable, we are willing, and able now, to waive the building permit fees,” said Rebecca Everette, community development director for Larimer County, when Denver7 reported on their ADU plan.
Superior’s plan also includes a GIS story map that will guide homeowners interested in building ADUs through the process and explain the available waivers and preset designs.
“There are still a lot of Marshall Fire survivors who have been displaced because of the cost of housing, and so we really hope that we can incentivize, in some way, Marshall Fire survivors to be able to come back,” said Stavros.
She added that about 50 units of affordable housing for Seniors are set to begin construction in 2026.
The Follow Up
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In the middle of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park, a little girl in a pink Bluey shirt spins herself around atop a concrete slab. She twirls with her blue backpack in her outstretched hand — bunny ears on the top and a mermaid stitched on the side.
The two red brick stairs just a few feet from the girl used to lead to the floor of a pavilion with tin roofing, where Chatham Estates residents gathered for monthly meetings.
To the right of the pavilion, there used to be a playground with swings and slides. The school bus stopped right at the intersection, so the kids came to play while the mothers watched. Both the pavilion and playground were removed a few months ago, residents said.
“When that happened, I thought that’s very strange, but the property [has been] for sale for the past two years,” Katia Roebuck, an organizer with the N.C. Congress of Latino Organizations, said. “So I thought maybe something is up.”
Now, residents are worried the sale may be imminent and they may have to leave the park.
On Wednesday, roughly 40 neighbors gathered at the former site of the pavilion to discuss what some say they heard from the daughter of owner Curtis Westbrook Sr.: that residents would get a notice on Dec. 29 that Chatham Estates — right off East Chatham Street near downtown and one of the last affordable places for low-income residents to live in Cary — would close. From there, residents would have six months to relocate.
Residents of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park walk back to their homes after a community meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025 in Cary, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com
Real estate company Lee and Associates is working with Westbrook to sell the property. Lee and Associates Executive Vice President Karah Jennings McConnell declined to comment about Chatham Estates’ possible closure when reached by The News & Observer. Westbrook and Associates did not respond to voicemails The N&O left.
Since Westbrook put the property up for sale over two years ago, some residents have since moved, but most of the roughly 700 residents couldn’t afford to. Emidia Roblero, a WakeMed housekeeper, said they likely couldn’t afford to live in Wake County — much less Cary, where the average rent is $2,100 a month, according to Zillow. Residents pay $400 a month for a plot on Chatham Estates.
Roblero has lived at Chatham Estates for 16 years. Speaking Spanish with Roebuck translating, Roblero said she lived in Raleigh for a little while but felt safer in Cary. The schools are great for her four kids, and the mobile home park is a 10-minute drive to their church, St. Michael the Archangel.
“That’s why [I] love living here, because [I’m] connected to here,” Roblero said. “It’s hard because everything is close to [me]. [My] four children are concerned because they know they’ll have to leave and change schools.”
Many of the mobile homes’ structures are so old they’ll crumble if residents try to move them. Roblero said her home can be moved, but she worries about much older neighbors who won’t be able to move.
Maria Linares, a cleaner who has lived in Chatham Estates for 18 years, said her home, built in 1990, can’t be moved without falling apart. Linares said she’s been looking for other places to live in Cary and can’t find anywhere she can afford. For her, six months isn’t enough time to get the money necessary to relocate.
Linares and other residents are demanding to meet with whoever buys Chatham Estates to discuss how they can help with funds for residents to relocate. Even for those who can move their mobile homes, that could cost $15,000 to $18,000, Roebuck said.
In March 2024, the Cary Town Council approved Stable Homes Cary, a partnership between the town and nonprofit Dorcas Ministries that provides cash assistance and displacement support for residents, The N&O previously reported.
The town committed an initial $800,000 to Dorcas and Stable Homes Cary and earmarked a further $1.65 million over the next three years, including $600,000 in 2026. Of the $1.55 million the town appropriated from its general fund, $500,000 has been spent so far, according to the town’s 2026 budget.
But in order to receive the money, Dorcas requires applicants to have a bank account. Many residents at Chatham Estates are in the country without legal authorization, so they don’t have an account, Roebuck said.
When residents of Wellington Park in Wake Forest — also paying rents well below the town average and facing displacement from their mobile home park — organized with the help of Roebuck, they secured almost $14,000 per family from the new owners to relocate. Roebuck hopes Chatham Estates residents can similarly secure the funds they need.
“Not only [is there] the sense of they have to move, but they’re losing their community,” Roebuck said. “They’re losing their place of worship. They’re losing their schools. Anything that they built their life around.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM.
Twumasi Duah-Mensah is a Breaking News Reporter for The News & Observer. He began at The N&O as a summer intern on the metro desk. Triangle born and Tar Heel bred, Twumasi has bylines for WUNC, NC Health News and the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media. Send him tips and good tea places at (919) 283-1187.
Nearly 500 apartments planned, including studios, townhomes, and three-bedroom units
Development includes parking garage, amenities, walking trail, and “Airplane Park”
Long-vacant Republic Airport site may receive environmental remediation support
Commack-based Heatherwood Communities was selected by the state to build nearly 500 apartments on a long-vacant East Farmingdale site.
The developer, which answered the request for proposals issued in May 2024, plans to build a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, as well as townhouse units, in buildings up to five stories. The project includes 630 parking spaces, with a covered garage, both indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, a landscaped walking trail, and an “Airplane Park” public open space honoring the site’s aviation history, according to a statement from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
“Heatherwood is excited to partner with the governor‘s office, the State of New York and the Town of Babylon on this generational development opportunity,” Chris Capece, Heatherwood president, said in the statement. “To reposition a blighted and underutilized site that’s laid fallow for decades, for high-quality multifamily housing in the 110 corridor, which holds Long Island’s highest concentration of jobs with adjacent retail uses, is a unique opportunity for us as Long Islanders. As Heatherwood continues to grow its footprint nationally, we’re proud to invest locally to make our home region a better place.”
Sean Sallie, Heatherwood’s senior director of planning and development, told LIBN the company is ready to go. “It’s a multi-tiered process with the state, the Federal Aviation Agency and the town,” Sallie said. “We have tasks ahead of us, but we’re confident we’re going to deliver for the state and the town.”
Currently owned by the New York State Department of Transportation as part of Republic Airport, the site along Conklin Street has been the subject of several past proposals for development.
Some remediation may be needed on site for potential subsurface environmental contamination, which will be supported by an up to $4 million Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to the Town of Babylon, as LIBN previously reported.
The narrow strip of land once owned by Fairchild Republic stretches east from Route 110 to New Highway and has gone from aviation hub to industrial ghost town. On the south side of Conklin Street is the 56-acre Airport Plaza, a 450,000-square-foot retail center near the main Fairchild Republic aircraft plant. But since Fairchild closed operations in 1987, nothing has been taking off on the abandoned site.
In 1927, the Ranger Aircraft Engine Corp. was the first aviation firm to locate on the northern strip of the Fairchild property, where it constructed manufacturing and test facilities for aircraft engines.
Republic Aviation Corp. purchased the property in 1955 and used the existing facilities for research and development and office space. The Farmingdale Co. owned the property from 1965 to 1972, when Fairchild Industries purchased it and used it as warehouse and office space. It closed in 1987, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Save for a small right-of-way controlled by the Long Island Rail Road, which borders the site on the north, the parcel is now owned by the DOT. Over the years, ideas for redevelopment – more retail, a train station, housing – have come mostly from local politicians, businesses and the site’s largest neighbor, Republic Airport.
“For far too long, this state-owned property has sat vacant and underutilized, holding back the potential of an entire community. All New Yorkers deserve the opportunity to have a quality, affordable place to call home,” Governor Hochul said in the statement. “By leveraging state-owned land and partnering with experienced local developers, we are turning our historic housing commitments into reality and building a more affordable New York in communities across the state, including on Long Island.”
Town of Brookhaven approved a $32M, age-restricted rental development
Project will deliver 64 units on a 12.8-acre site in East Patchogue
Amenities include a clubhouse, pool, bocce and pickleball courts
Ten percent of units will be affordable, including homes for people with disabilities
A plan to build a 55-and-over rental community in East Patchogue got a greenlight from the Town of Brookhaven last week.
The $32 million project from Farmingville-based Kelly Builders and Development Group will bring 64 age-restricted units to a 12.8-acre parcel just south of Sunrise Highway and west of Hewlett Avenue.
Elevation images of the apartments planned for East Patchogue. / Courtesy of bld Architecture
The plan includes 40 ranch-style, 1,300-square-foot homes, each with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a one-car garage, as well as 24 flats measuring about 1,200 square feet, each with two-bedroom and two bathrooms.
Amenities at the development will feature a 2,200-square-foot clubhouse with a pool, and bocce and pickleball courts. About a third of the property will be preserved as open space and there will be an onsite wastewater facility constructed.
Ten percent affordable and half of those will be reserved for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
The development is designed by Patchogue-based bld Architecture, and the project team also includes Huntington-based R&M Engineering and Nelson & Pope. Attorneys Alison LaPointe and Tim Shea from the Certilman Balin law firm represented the developer in securing the change of zone and site-plan approval from the town.
“We are very excited to provide the town much needed housing for people 55 and older,” developer Mike Kelly told LIBN. “Our community will provide housing enabling our seniors to remain in their communities and live a maintenance-free lifestyle close to their families and friends, churches, synagogues, doctors etc. Through dialogue at the hearing, we listened to neighbors and Supervisor Panico and Councilman Foley and we will be providing about a third of the site as preserved open space further protecting the wetlands and providing a permanent buffer for adjoining neighbors.”
Kelly said he hopes to start construction on the project this coming spring and the development is expected take about 18 months to complete.
Kelly is also hoping to get site-plan approval next month from the Village of Patchogue for another multifamily development. The $20 million project would bring 30 apartments to a 2.7-acre property on the Patchogue River. The development site, off West Avenue and Mulford Street, was a former oil storage facility.
Smithtown Town Board unanimously approved a zoning change for the project
Beechwood’s $220M development includes 288 condos on a 71-acre site
Community will feature single-family homes, townhomes and villas
Project includes 29 affordable units and extensive resort-style amenities
One of the largest multifamily housing developments in the history of Kings Park cleared a big hurdle Thursday when the Smithtown Town Board unanimously approved a zoning change for Beechwood Organization‘s proposed 288-home condominium project.
The $220 million project, called Country Pointe Estates at Kings Park, will bring a mix of 53 single-family homes, 153 townhomes and 82 villas to a 71-acre site near the northwest corner of Old Northport Road and Lawrence Road.
Rendering of the clubhouse at the planned Kings Park condo community. / Courtesy of Beechwood Organization
The property, currently a poultry farm and woods, which had been zoned for single-family homes on half-acre lots and some light industry, was rezoned as a Planned Residential Development.
“We could have had on this property probably 140 to 150 three-to-five-bedroom McMansions or an Amazon-type warehouse,” Smithtown Councilman Thomas McCarthy said at the meeting. “But what we’re getting is all two-bedroom units which will help the elderly and will help the younger people of Kings Park and I think it’s a phenomenal application.”
Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said he agreed with McCarthy’s assessment.
“I think it’s a development that will be good for the Kings Park community,” he said.
The condos are expected to be priced from the low $700,000s to $1 million, depending on the model and location. There will be 29 homes designated as affordable and offered at reduced prices.
Amenities will include a 12,000-square-foot staffed clubhouse, two heated pools, two pickleball courts, a fitness center, a yoga studio, a sports lounge, bocce courts and a putting green.
The next step for the project will be site-plan approval, which Beechwood principal Michael Dubb said he hopes to have some time next year.
“What is special about this community is that most condominium developments are six units to the acre and up, including most of the condominium developments I’ve done recently,” Dubb told LIBN. “This is four units to the acre. So there is a tremendous amount of open space that we were able to save in this community.”
Once approvals are received, Dubb said the Kings Park development would take about three years to complete.
“These communities create such a great sense of camaraderie while offering a maintenance-free alternative for people to stay here on Long Island, stay close to their roots and their grandchildren,” Dubb said. “This community will also give young people the opportunity to set up roots in a community that they might desire to raise their children in one day, whether they’re just starting a family or planning a family.”
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Petersburg Tenants Union calls it an increasingly rare happening in the city: apartments that rent for less than $1,000 a month.
For residents of the Greenland Apartments on Seventh Avenue North, that was the reality for decades.
But now, they’re bracing for rent increases as new ownership takes over.
What You Need To Know
St. Pete’s Greenland Apartments residents are looking at monthly hikes of anywhere from $600 to a little less than $1,000
The highest rent at the complex was $780.
“Unfortunately, to keep the current market rent, it is lower than 50% of what the value for market rent in this neighborhood is,” said Greenland Property Manager Tim McGinnis, who said improvements to the complex are underway
Residents are looking at monthly hikes of anywhere from $600 to a little less than $1,000.
The highest rent at the complex was $780.
According to the apartment’s new property manager, prices had to be raised to account for planned improvements and rising costs.
Some tenants said the increased costs will push them out.
“I concluded he (manager) kind of kept it below market rate because I assumed he preferred long term tenants than a constant turnover,” said Tracy Gayton, a Greenland resident. “You know, he got ’em. He got people to stay here a long time.”
Including Gayton, who lived at Greenland for 11 years.
Property Manager Tim McGinnis said rents at Greenland ranged from $600 to $830. The increases will create a new range of $1,250 for a studio to nearly $2,200 for a two-bedroom. (Spectrum News image)
He said as he watched rent prices rise around town, his one-bedroom apartment never got above $760 a month. When Urban Core Properties bought the family-owned complex last month, he expected an increase.
“I have to confess,” he said. “It went up more than expected. I wasn’t expecting, I think it’s a 128% increase in my case.”
Gayton says his new rent would be just more than $1,700.
Meanwhile, Property Manager Tim McGinnis said rents at Greenland ranged from $600 to $830. The increases will create a new range of $1,250 for a studio to nearly $2,200 for a two-bedroom.
“Unfortunately, to keep the current market rent, it is lower than 50% of what the value for market rent in this neighborhood is,” said McGinnis, who added that improvements to the complex are underway. “The tax increases, as well as the cost of insurance, as well as construction for those renovations, has almost tripled in the last three years.”
William Kilgore with the St. Petersburg Tenant Union says prices like Greenland’s are pretty much unheard of in the city, and recent years have been challenging for renters.
“Supposedly, the rent prices have kind of stabilized,” said Kilgore. “But they’re still 30% higher than what they were before the pandemic. So, people have been squeezed. People who are paying are still paying over half their income on rent.”
Gayton said he’s moving out next month, even though he can afford the increase.
That’s not the case for some of his neighbors, who are seeing rents go up from $780 to nearly $1,600.
Meanwhile, McGinnis said he expects about half of Greenland’s 18 units will be vacant next month.
He said tenants who choose to stay are being offered up to $1,800 in discounts to sign an 18-month lease term. Rent increases are expected to take place gradually during the first quarter of 2026.
According to Zillow, the average rent in St. Petersburg is $2,200 a month. Apartments.com said it’s about $1,700 and Rent Cafe said $2,000.
All of those prices fall within or very close to Greenland’s new range.
Homeless individuals attempted to salvage their tent during a encampment sweep in Manhattan, Dec, 2022.
Photo by Dean Moses
The sight of homeless encampments on the streets of New York is truly tragic. No one should have to live out in the elements; the fact that people choose to live this way speaks volumes about the affordability and mental health crises in New York City.
While acknowledging that tragedy, however, we must also realize that homeless encampments themselves are a blight on the neighborhoods in which they exist. Unkempt and poorly constructed, they instill a sense of apathy and disorder while sending an unspoken message to the rest of the population that can be summed up in one word: apathy. Any sense of apathy is a danger to the rest of the city, and an invitation for crime and other problems.
Not long after taking office in 2023, Mayor Eric Adams sought to have homeless encampments disbanded. It was a controversial campaign, but a necessary one in order to reduce the sense of public apathy while also reaching out to people in desperate need of help.
On Tuesday, the incoming mayor said his administration would seek only to dismantle encampments as long as there are guaranteed indoor alternatives in shelters that are safe. Many homeless New Yorkers living on the streets have often said they do not feel safe in the city’s shelter system, and it’s going to be a challenge for Mamdani and his administration to shatter that perception.
Even if an ideal shelter isn’t immediately available, the city cannot afford to do nothing when it comes to homeless encampments set up under bridges or in public parks. Just ignoring or looking the other way sends a horrible message, not just to the city but to those in the encampments themselves, many of whom already feel undesired and unwanted.
Most New Yorkers recognize that many homeless people living on the streets and in our subway system suffer from mental illness. Often, those with extreme, untreated mental illness left to live on the street lash out against bystanders in a violent way. That risk grows if the city government looks the other way on street homelessness.
Mayor-elect Mamdani has made addressing mental illness a campaign promise, and he must fulfill it from Day 1 in order to ensure that the mentally ill are cared for, not left to fend for themselves while living in tents on the streets.
He must also advance programs to create supportive housing and genuinely safe shelters that turn no one away and give no one an excuse to live on the streets.
HPD’s misguided pause on Section 610 affordable housing applications threatens low-income New Yorkers and the city’s existing affordable housing stock. Unsplash+
New York City faces an affordable housing crisis of staggering proportions. Vacancy rateshoveraround 1.4 percent. Families earning moderate incomes are priced out of entire neighborhoods. Yet in May 2025, when the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced it would stop processing most new applications for Section 610 of the Private Housing Finance Law, the city turned its back on a policy that was working.
Section 610, signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2022, represented a rare moment of policy innovation that benefited everyone involved. The law allows owners of rent-stabilized affordable housing to collect the full amount of federal and local housing vouchers, even when that amount exceeds the building’s registered legal rent, without increasing what tenants pay. Tenants continue paying only30 percentof their income toward rent. Building owners receive additional income to cover rising operating costs and building repairs. The government maximizes the value of its existing subsidy programs. It was an elegant policy design: preserving affordability while preventing the deterioration of the affordable housing stock we already have.
Then HPDpulled the plug, citing federal funding uncertainty. While maintaining that buildings with already-approved amendments can continue operating under Section 610, the agency announced it would no longer process new authorizations for most subsidy types, including crucial programs that serve the city’s most vulnerable residents: the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) and HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HASA).
This decision reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what Section 610 accomplishes. The program doesn’t create new government obligations; it simply allows existing subsidy dollars to flow more efficiently to where they’re already committed. When a voucher holder moves into a Section 610 building, the city is already obligatedto pay that subsidy. The difference lies in whether those dollars are allocated toward maintaining quality, affordable housing or are constrained by artificially low registered rents that leave buildings financially struggling.
Consider the reality facing affordable housing providers. Insurance costs have skyrocketed. Property taxes continue climbing. Labor and material costs for maintenance have surged. Meanwhile, developers who built affordable housing under regulatory agreements years ago are locked into rent caps that no longer reflect the economics of building operations. Some are collecting only 93 percent of rents compared to the 95 percent they underwrote, and those projections were considered conservative before 2020.
Without Section 610, these buildings face a slow death spiral. Insufficient cash flow means deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance leads to building deterioration. Deterioration results in tenant displacement and the loss of affordable units from the city’s housing stock. We’ve seen this story play out countless times across the five boroughs.
Section 610 offered a lifeline. By allowing buildings to capture the full voucher amount, it provided the financial breathing room needed to maintain properties, make necessary repairs, and remain viable participants in affordable housing programs. This wasn’t a windfall for owners, but a survival mechanism for the affordable housing ecosystem.
HPD’s justification, federal funding uncertainty, rings hollow. The federal voucher programs that Section 610 leverages are not new appropriations. These are existing commitments. If HPD is concerned about budget constraints, the solution is to prioritize which buildings receive Section 610 authorization based on demonstrated need, not to shut down the program entirely for new applicants.
Moreover, the timing couldn’t be worse. New York is in the midst of implementing its most ambitious housing agenda in decades. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity aims to create new homes across all neighborhoods. The 485-x tax incentive is designed to stimulate affordable housing construction. Yet what good are new affordable units if we’re simultaneously allowing our existing affordable stock to deteriorate through bureaucratic paralysis?
The policy’s design already includes safeguards. Regulatory agencies assess project financials to prioritize buildings with the greatest need. The program requires that rent stabilization protections remain in place. If a tenant loses their voucher, rents must drop back to the legal regulated amount. These provisions ensure that Section 610 serves its intended purpose: preservation of affordability, not profit maximization.
HPD claims it will continue processing authorizations for NYCHA tenant- and project-based vouchers and Emergency Housing Vouchers. But this carve-out is insufficient. CityFHEPS and FHEPS serve thousands of New Yorkers, including families with children and individuals experiencing homelessness. HASA vouchers support people living with HIV/AIDS. Excluding these programs from Section 610 means the buildings that serve our most vulnerable residents are precisely the ones left without financial support.
What HPD calls uncertainty, housing providers call existential threat. Affordable housing developers who planned projects around the availability of Section 610 now face financing gaps. Buildings that were in the application pipeline when the pause was announced are stuck in limbo—unable to move forward, unable to plan, slowly hemorrhaging money while waiting for bureaucratic clarity that may never come.
The city should reverse course. HPD should immediately reopen Section 610 applications with appropriate prioritization criteria based on demonstrated financial need. If federal budget constraints genuinely require limiting the program’s scope, then create a transparent waitlist and approval process rather than an arbitrary shutdown. Work with the state legislature to expand and formalize Section 610’s provisions.
Most importantly, recognize that preserving existing affordable housing is just as critical as building new units, and often more cost-effective. Every dollar spent propping up struggling affordable buildings through Section 610 saves the much larger investment that would be required to replace those units once they’re lost.
New York cannot afford to let bureaucratic caution and budgetary pessimism undermine smart housing policy. Section 610 works. It should be expanded, not abandoned. The affordable housing crisis demands bold action, not timid retreat. HPD should open the doors to both Section 610 applications and the affordable housing future New York desperately needs.
