Priced out of Hearth and Dreams

By SHERYL YOUNG, Community Columnist    

Tampa Tribune Newspaper                                                   

March 27, 2006

Nation/World , p. 17                         

(This article has been published and copyrighted by the Tampa Tribune. No  portion of it may be reprinted without permission. Photos will not appear in this version.)  

            “Prepare to be seduced - Homes from $300,000 to $2 million”, says the giant billboard. Everywhere you look, apartments are turning condo from Oldsmar at $129,000 to Hyde Park at half a million, and new luxury homes up to $7 million are sprouting up faster than you can say Donald Trump.  But are we at a point where hard-working Florida natives and long time residents can’t be the ones to enjoy it?

Sabrina Brooks lived in an aging Tampa apartment building which recently converted into condominiums. A single hairstylist with two children, she couldn’t make the down payment. In searching for other apartments she was surprised to find nothing desirable in her price range.  While spreading her search to Clearwater, she’s temporarily moved into a West Tampa complex in close proximity to 120 known sexual predators, and fears for her twelve-year-old daughter’s safety.

“I’m a fifth generation Floridian who hoped to own a home outright by the time I was 60”, Brooks says.  “I never expected to be in this situation.”  Brooks likes what she does and is good at it. She doesn’t want to live off the government or appear to have a victim mentality.

“But people don’t realize, workers in service positions make Florida run, and Floridians can’t live in Florida anymore. We’ve never earned enough to support this new lifestyle.”

One new development admits with pride in its advertisement that only 3% of area residents can afford its prices.

In early 2005, more than a dozen apartment buildings turned condo.  Some merely slapped a coat of paint on and started charging over $125,000. True, you can’t buy a house for that amount and maybe it’s better than throwing rent away, but with down payments running 5-20 percent, some just can’t afford it.

While multi-million dollar housing is being built for wealthy business owners from New York and Los Angeles who move here so they can pay employees less, the workers who provide their face to the public often don’t make much more than minimum wage ($6.40 per hour).  The average yearly salary increase in the area is less than 4%. Receptionists, the first person you see when walking into an office, are often offered $7.00-8.00 per hour to start – only one dollar  higher than when I moved here in 1986. 

Restaurants and hair salons can legally pay tipped employees half the minimum wage.

But hairdressers and waiters are responsible for claiming taxes at minimum wage level including gratuities, and the average tip runs below the etiquette-correct 15%.  Many aren’t allowed to work above 32 hours weekly because employers don’t want to (or can’t) pay health insurance. 

Home owners and first-time hopefuls are also finding themselves in precarious situations, because every developer wants in on the action.  One of Brooks’ customers, an 86 year old woman, must sell her lifelong home because the surrounding area was re-evaluated at such a high price that the property tax will cost two months of her social security checks.

While people who’ve made their money in other states are moving here, Brooks says her friends are moving to Georgia and Alabama, to the outskirts of big towns where the cost of living is less.  

We should be happy for people who work hard and finally buy their dream home or own a successful business.  But Tampa could take a lesson from cities that have previously faced this problem: Sometimes developers get over-zealous and buildings sit empty.

While house prices may soar in a popular area, wealthy companies head for places where they can pay less rent and lower salaries. Industrial, office and service employees must settle for less money, and there's lots of unoccupied space. ♦♦