Councilman Luis Viera made a motion to bring the item back before council, with John Dingfelder seconding the motion last week. Council voted unanimously to bring the ordinance back to council for the third time.
"This ordinance for me is about basic respect and dignity for people who don't often get respect and dignity," Viera told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
The bill of rights would call on Tampa landlords to provide tenants with a notice of their housing rights and a list of tenant assistance resources, should they so need them. And just like a nearly identical resolution Hillsborough County commissioners passed 5-1 last year, the bill shot down two weeks would have also prohibited landlords from discriminating against renters who use Section 8 vouchers.
The assistance is most often used by low-income families, disabled and elderly people—the most vulnerable of Tampa's residents. It's often the barrier between those vulnerable people and homelessness.
The ordinance first made it to council in January, where it passed city council 6-1, a stark contrast to the 4-2 vote in early Feb. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay found that landlords and lawyers had sent emails to city council in between the votes and that the Bay Area Apartment Association—a massive landlord group—had been asking the city questions about the ordinance.
"It's a two part ordinance, and I support the part about the notices," Dingfelder said, acknowledging that he still isn't fully convinced about the Section 8 part of the ordinance. "But I will keep an open mind and I'll listen to whatever evidence or information that we get."
Councilman Viera was absent at the original vote because he was attending to a personal matter. But the next day said he would bring the matter back before council, which he followed through with."It is a needed ordinance," Viera said. "Too many families living in marginalized communities do not know their rights. And too many families are potentially denied adequate housing because of their lawful source of income - whether it is a voucher, veterans benefits or SSI."
Viera continued that he fully expects that council members will look into their hearts and pass this ordinance without watering it down.
"It is the right thing to do," he said.
Councilman Orlando Gudes, who originally proposed the ordinance in December of last year, said that he's encouraged that it's coming back before council.
"Now we'll have a full council present to discuss the issues, and hopefully we can get something solidified to move forward on it," Gudes said.