Wednesday night, 25 protesters slept on on the steps of St. Petersburg City Hall in hopes of raising support for getting a rent control referendum on the ballot this fall.
“We’ve got a lot of people crying out that rent control would be the single most effective thing that could help with housing right now,” Nick Carey of Faith in Florida said Wednesday night. “Basically if you’re not making about $30 an hour, you’re at risk of not being able to afford rent anymore.”
“We’re not going to be pushed out by real estate and developers that look at our community and see dollar signs,” Karla Correa with the St. Pete Tenant’s Union said.
St. Petersburg City Council is currently in the middle of a meeting where it could potentially take another step towards putting rent control on the ballot.