Affordable housing crisis forces Tampa General to build its own

Worried by the lack of affordable housing for its workers, Tampa General Hospital is moving ahead with plans for a $60 million apartment complex that will be offered to employees at rents below market rate.

The hospital has already secured $10 million from the state budget toward the cost of a 160-unit apartment block on Delaney Creek Boulevard in Brandon. Hillsborough County also provisionally earmarked $2 million over the next four years for the project.

The apartment building is classified as workforce housing and would be offered to hospital and USF Health workers who make between 80% and 120% of the region’s area median income, equivalent to a household income of $114,000 for a family of four. That could bring relief for workers such as nurses or physician’s assistants, but workforce housing is often beyond the means of many lower-income employees like janitors or cooks at the hospital.

Hospital officials said the unusual move into real estate development is necessary to attract and retain hospital workers. It comes as Florida’s affordable housing crisis shows no sign of abating.

The statewide median price for a single-family home reached $400,000 in 2023, surpassing the inflation-adjusted peak prices from the 2006 housing bubble that preceded the Great Recession. According to apartments.com, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Brandon is more than $1,600.

“We hear from team members and prospective team members that access to housing is increasingly a challenge in Tampa Bay,” said Steve Harris, a senior vice president for the hospital. “That’s why we’re working with our state and local partners to invest in more affordable housing options to support our critical health care workforce.”

Tampa General is not the only hospital that feels its workers are being priced out of the housing market. Jackson Health System in Miami is in discussions with a development firm to build workforce housing close to its Miami campus. Outside of Florida, other hospital chains are pursuing similar solutions.

“Affordable workforce housing supports the recruitment and retention of a skilled, robust health care workforce,” said Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew in an email.

The trend is not limited to health care. Pinellas County Schools is partnering with a D.C. developer to turn a former school building site in St. Petersburg into 225 apartments, with 113 reserved as workforce housing for district teachers and employees making 90% to 120% of the area’s median income.

Many Florida companies offer down payment and rent assistance to their workers, but having an employer act as a landlord is still uncharted territory, said Anne Ray, manager of the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse at the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.

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“Housing construction, housing finance, property management are all highly technical fields,” she said. “Partnering with an experienced affordable housing developer can help avoid a lot of pitfalls.”

Hospital officials have not yet decided how they will determine eligibility to live at the complex and whether workers who quit their job would be able to continue living there.

Tampa General bought the 5.2-acre parcel on Delaney Creek Boulevard for $2.5 million in 2021, property records show. It plans to partner with a workforce housing developer to handle construction, according to a document provided to Hillsborough County commissioners.

The county money would go toward building and running a day care. Preliminary plans also show a dog park, community pool and a children’s playground. It would include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. A shuttle would ferry workers between the complex and the hospital.

The child care funding must still be reviewed by county commissioners, who are scheduled to approve a final budget next month. Commissioner Gwen Myers, who said the housing is in her district, is a supporter of the plan.

“We have school teachers and firefighters who just can’t afford some of the housing,” she said. “It’s sad the market doesn’t trend and that pay doesn’t keep up for people to be able to afford a single-family home.”

As this new model catches on, Ray said some of the lowest earners are still being left out.

“There are a lot of jobs in health care and education that might pay wages that are equivalent to 40% or 60% of area median income,” Ray said. “We really need a certain amount of housing that’s targeted toward those workers.”