Photo by Dave Decker
A protester at St. Petersburg City Hall holds a sign demanding rent control.
In response to skyrocketing rents in St. Petersburg, tenants are organizing an overnight “emergency sleep-in protest” at city hall to demand rent control.
A number of groups, including St. Petersburg Tenants Union, Faith in Florida, St. Petersburg Tri-Partisan Canvas and PSL Tampa Bay are hosting the sleep-in event, which will start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday Aug. 3, and will last until Thursday’s city council meeting the next morning.
The groups say there will be music, speakers, food and more during the sleep-in, and encourages attendees to bring their own sleeping gear.
At the morning meeting, tenants will demand that council declare a housing state of emergency, so voters can decide if they want rent control in the city.
SPTU thinks that if other municipalities can move toward rent control, then so can St. Pete.
“Tampa and Orange County have moved forward with declaring a state of emergency and will vote for rent control on their November ballots,” SPTU wrote in a post about the event. “We need the same here in St. Pete, where rents are up 22.4% compared to last year!”
Miami-Dade County has also made moves toward rent control by declaring a housing state of emergency, but has not passed rent control yet.
Last week, after months of resident outcry, Tampa City Council voted 6-1 to declare a housing state of emergency and put the issue of rent control on an upcoming ballot for voters to decide.
Florida Statute 166.043 presents a challenge to rent control measures, but doesn’t make them impossible. The law prohibits local governments from imposing rent-control measures, unless the municipality provides a researched rationale as to why rents need to be capped. After that, the measure can go on a ballot for voters to decide on.
The law makes it so that even if voters do approve rent control, they then have to vote on it again the next year, after once again meeting all the criteria to prove that the rental situation in the city constitutes a housing emergency.
If both St. Petersburg and Tampa were to enact rent control, along with the other municipalities, it would further challenge the state law and bring more attention to the difficulties it presents to renters during the unbridled housing crisis, as landlords gouge rents across the state.
The City of St. Petersburg has not yet responded to a request for comment.
At the council meeting on Thursday, the city is also set to hear an ordinance that could potentially create “property tax exemptions for new businesses and the expansion of existing businesses that are expected to create new, full-time jobs in the City of
St. Petersburg.”
If passed, this tax break for businesses could be added to the ballot in November, for voters to decide. Last year, the public voted against the same proposed measure.
SPTU is calling on locals to speak up against that measure as well, and highlighted the difference in how the city is approaching businesses tax breaks versus renter’s livelihoods.
“Corporations are potentially getting a second chance to trick the people into voting for a big business handout, but the city government won’t even allow the people to vote on rent control while working families are being kicked to the curb,” SPTU wrote. “We should be calling this what it is: blatant hypocrisy that flies in the face of democratic values.”
