HOPE FOR HOUSING
Our Big Victory
On Thursday, September 5, 2019, HOPE won a
historic victory! County Commissioners voted to
approve a County Ordinance that amends
Hillsborough County Code of Laws and
Ordinances to establish a local Hillsborough
County Affordable Housing Fund of at least
$10 million
annually
for
affordable
housing! Over time this will impact the quality of
life of tens of thousands of families!

This Ordinance requires the County's Budget
Officer to ensure that each annual budget
includes an allocation of at least $10 Million in
new monies in the Fund and a program for
using the funds to provide loans and grants to
create and sustain affordable housing for very low
and low income households in Hillsborough
County.

Winning this long-term policy change has been
a hard fought 6-year journey! We made it
happen because of all who shared their housing
stories, worked on the affordable housing
committee, prayed for this bold step, attended
BOCC meetings, worked to build Justice Ministry
Networks, invested financially and worked to get
people to attend the HOPE Nehemiah Actions of
1,000 to 1,300 people. The power of our
Nehemiah Actions got Commissioners to commit
to move this forward! Our persistence and
constantly showing up brought it home!



On
September
5,
over 50
HOPE
members showed up to let Commissioners know
we wanted them to vote to approve the Ordinance
to establish this needed local Affordable Housing
Fund. We had 11 speakers. Two of them were
Terry Lofton of Trinity CME and Maria Gainey of
New Smyrna Full Gospel. Both members shared
their difficult struggles to find decent housing they
can afford. They brought us to tears.


Hillsborough Organization for
Progress and Equality
9/12/2019

HOPE FOR HOUSING


In asking for support of the Ordinance, we also
asked for revisions to strengthen the Ordinance.
We won some important changes to the ordinance
and there was important conversation recorded on
the more urgent need for housing for the lowest
income persons!

The ordinance requires that not less than 30% of
the $10 million will be spent on affordable
housing for very low income and not less
than 30% will be spent for low income
households. Up to 5% can be spent on
Administration and it caps income levels so funds
cannot be spent on households above 100% of
AMI. We also got it to require a Super Majority
vote – half plus one - for any possible reallocation
of funds.

An Affordable Housing Biennial Plan will
determine the annual priorities of the funds, the
eligible strategies and description of how the funds
will be distributed among the income levels
approved in the Ordinance. The first Biennial Plan
will be presented at the Oct. 7 AHAB meeting and
then go before the BOCC for approval. These will
be opportunities to monitor and continue pushing
for the Fund to be prioritized to create housing
affordable for very low-income families!


On behalf of
the 23 HOPE member
congregations, we invite you to join us at the
HOPE 31st Annual Convention on October
28th, 2019 at 7 pm at Tampa First Seventh-Day
Adventist Church, 822 W Linebaugh Ave, Tampa,
FL 33612. At our Convention hundreds of leaders
from HOPE member congregations will celebrate
our victories and make decisions regarding our
2020 community issues.

We hope you can join us October 28th so you can
continue to learn more about HOPE’s community
work.