10 voices from the front lines of Tampa Bay’s housing boom

A grandmother scrambles to relocate her family. A landlord fears falling behind on her mortgage. A teacher jumps to action as her special-needs student faces eviction.

As Tampa Bay’s housing prices continue to skyrocket, ordinary people are feeling the g-forces of a rapidly changing region. And, they’re trying to reconcile with an uncomfortable truth: that housing is both a necessity and a commodity.

For some, the climbing demand and soaring costs are a sign of prosperity, as once-sleepy coastal towns become destinations for people eager to call Tampa Bay home.

For others, the change is proving devastating. Wages aren’t increasing at nearly the same pace as costs and as the housing supply is dwarfed by demand, longtime residents are left with nowhere to go. Suddenly, people who once lived modest but comfortable lives are bracing for homelessness.

The Tampa Bay Times spoke to 10 people, in the past two months, confronting Tampa Bay’s housing market from different perspectives. Below are their stories, told in their own words.

Highlights

“I can no longer afford to be embarrassed.”

Michelle Davis, 70, on eviction and memories of the Gas Plant neighborhood.

I had been living in the house on 6th Avenue S for six years when it was purchased last year by a group of investors. I never met any of them. I paid my rent online to their property management company and didn’t hear from anybody until my lease was up.

I think they had plans from the beginning to get me out so they could refurbish the house and sell it. The same thing happened to a house two doors down from me. The company gutted it, refurbished it. They sold it for $330,000.

The house I was in for all those years was much larger than the one they sold for all that money. I had a two-bedroom, two-bath, with a laundry room and office, paying $800 a month. I’m older and I exist on Social Security, so that was most of my income going to rent. There’s nothing even close to that if you’re looking at rentals today.

Before the eviction happened, I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I knew (the sheriff) was coming, I just didn’t know when. I felt so alone.

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They gave me 15 minutes to get what possessions I could and get out, so I lost quite a bit of my stuff. I wound up in a flea-infested, drug-infested motel on 34th Street N. I had nowhere else to go.

Now, I’m in an apartment. I ended up with slumlords. They won’t respond, they won’t do anything. I’m flushing my toilet manually by filling it up with water. When we had a cold snap, I couldn’t turn up the heat. It’s almost like I jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. I just can’t believe I’m in this situation at 70.

In some ways, I’ve seen this before. Gentrification, people being displaced. It does make me think of the Gas Plant neighborhood.

Both of my parents were from here, and my grandparents had a house on Fourth Avenue S, where I was raised.

It still affects me emotionally when I think about how the wonderful neighborhood I grew up in just vanished. I worry for the same.

I really miss Sixth Avenue. I wasn’t living an extravagant life before, but I had a good rapport with my neighbors. They called me the neighborhood fairy godmother because whenever a neighbor needed to borrow something, I always had it. I don’t know the people I live beside now. I put my name on the waiting list for senior housing, but it’s going to be three to five years, so in the meantime I’m just focused on getting people to pay attention to what’s happening, and to care.

Each time I hear about a rally or a protest, I try as hard as I can to be there. I invite my Facebook friends, I send text messages, but people aren’t showing up.

I can understand it in some respects. I was embarrassed to speak about this before. I’m typically a private person, but it’s gotten to the point where I can no longer afford to be embarrassed.

“How can you let a student sleep in the car?”

Jennifer Lumm, 50, on child homelessness and the responsibilities of teachers.

I was a student at San Jose Elementary School. My mom taught here, and now I teach here. My four kids went to school here and, hopefully one day, I’ll retire from here.

This is my community. But teaching is 24/7. It’s not just ABCs and 123s, it’s mental health and food insecurity and housing.

I had a parent come to me one day during pickup and he was just bawling. His housing situation was unstable. The landlord decided they could renovate and rent the apartment for double.

He’s a single dad of a kindergartener with autism. He was barely making rent as it was, so this was a major crisis because we’re in Dunedin, and there is nowhere to go.

I posted on Facebook asking if anybody knew of anything that would help them, because they were going to be living in the car. How can you let a student sleep in the car? And I couldn’t connect them with a typical shelter because the child has sensory overload.

My assistants and I were looking at every single listing that was coming across our paths but there was nothing. Then, when one listing did look promising, it ended up being a scam. We should have known better, but we were desperate.

I was telling the dad, “You might have to move to Pasco,” and it was breaking my heart because the dad didn’t want to take his child out of my classroom. It’s hard for any student, but this situation was so much harder because this little boy has autism. He’s very limited verbally, and change is devastating. Just having a different home would be hard for him, but having to change schools and deal with new staff and peers would have been traumatic.

San Jose is a Title 1 school, which means over 50 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. This little boy isn’t the only one going through this kind of crisis. There’s a list that teachers can pull up that shows students who are experiencing homelessness, and there are quite a few on that list right now.

Our school is suffering because there’s nowhere to live. It just makes me sick to my stomach.

“I thought, ‘why is nobody moving here?’”

Todd Gooding, 57, on investment properties and the rising costs of repairs.

I’ve been in Florida for seven years now. I came from California for investments.

I wasn’t planning to stay, but I visited St. Petersburg on a weekend just to get away and I really liked it and decided to move here.

I buy things that no one else wants to touch. Homes that are in really bad condition, and then I redo them top to bottom. My first house I bought was a three-bedroom, two-bath in Zephyrhills. I bought it online, sight unseen, for $40,000. Everything was really cheap back then.

Now, I’m on property No. 12, with eight rentals. I have three in St. Petersburg and five in Pasco County.

I used to get calls from my tenants, just for the heck of it. To chat or ask about something — we were friendly. Now, it’s crickets. I got one call last year. Out of all of my tenants, just one call. I kind of want to reach out and say, “Don’t you have a water leak? Isn’t there something I can fix?”

I think they’re all afraid to call me because I might say, “By the way, I’m going to raise your rent,” or something. Which I am going to have to do.

It’s sad.

When I move people in, I tell them to just pay on time and we’ll be good. I haven’t raised rent for my tenants in almost six years, but it’s gotten to the point where I need to.

Some of my insurance premiums have tripled. The costs of repairs are getting outrageous, and when I’m renting somebody a property at $800 under market value, it’s draining.

My mother was a single parent who could barely make rent from month to month. I rented for 12 years before I bought. I understand the other side. But in the end, these are investments. They just are. The only way to protect yourself from rent increases is to buy.

When I moved here seven years ago, I thought “Wow, why is nobody moving here? And why isn’t anybody buying these houses, it’s so cheap.” Things in St. Petersburg were seriously underpriced. I guess people found out, and now it’s exploding.

I think it’s more of an income problem than a rent problem. Prices are still good compared to other places, but rent is high for what people here are used to.

“Don’t get too attached, this market can be devastating.”

Louie Talacay, 31, on setting client expectations for buying homes.

I’ve always been a very social individual. After doing some soul-searching, I realized that real estate was for me.

I mean, who doesn’t want to live like they’re on HGTV? I love seeing that look come over people’s faces when they walk into a home they can see themselves in. It’s like they’re already picturing their life there.

When I started in 2014, it was a buyer’s market. I could get people into a house with $9,000 in the bank, and there were lots of homes to choose from. Now,…