St. Pete is first city in Florida to implement new affordable housing rules

St. Petersburg has become the first city in Florida to implement a new law allowing local governments to streamline the process for approving affordable housing developments.

HB 1339 was passed during the 2020 Legislative Session and took effect in July of that year.
The bill, now a law, gives local governments the authority to create a process to “approve development of affordable housing on any parcel zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use.”

Essentially, it allows those developments to circumvent the rezoning process if the application meets certain characteristics and a governing board decides it’s compatible with the current neighborhood.

– Kelly Hayes, The St. Pete 100