By Leah Burdick, WMNF
On Thursday Sept. 4 and Sept. 18, the Hillsborough County Commissioners will be hosting a public hearing about the 2026 budget. The Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality (HOPE) and other Hillsborough organizations will be advocating for $2 mil for affordable housing.
The HOPE Affordable Housing Act put $10 mil. annually into the County’s budget towards rehabilitation and construction of affordable housing, according to a press release.
Rev. Justin LaRosa is the HOPE co-chair of Affordable Housing and Mental Health Committee. He said this money was important because it helped build 1,100 units, in 2019, and over the last couple years there has been a movement to remove the money.
“In the last two years they have removed about $8 mil. from it. On June 18th Commissioners, (Chris) Boles, (Ken) Hagen, (Donna) Cameron Cepeda, (Joshua) Wostal and (Christine) Miller repealed the ordinance, effectively doing away with the county’s commitment to address this problem,” LaRosa said.
Even though they repealed, LaRosa said it’s hopeful that Commissioners Boles, Hogan, Cohen and Myers attempted to keep $2 mil. and there is still $1.4 mil..
He said there will have to be four Commissioners to vote to keep the money in the budget.
“We are advocating that they keep the money in there. Would I like to see the whole $10 million of course; is that likely to happen, not,” LaRosa said. “We are hopeful that the Commissioners will come together, at least four of them, to keep $1.4 mil saved in the affordable housing funds.”
LaRosa said no family should have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table. The money is used to leverage other state and federal sources so developers can build housing based on the average median income.
“We are a collaboration of 29 faith communities that advocate for important community issues. That is one of the misconceptions that hope gets the money, no we don’t. We just advocate for it. Developers apply for, the county commission approves the projects we have nothing to do with the money,” he said.
The budget meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on the 2nd floor of Hillsborough County Center, located at 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.
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