TAMPA, Fla – Today leaders from around the region will meet to discuss important new strategies and programs to increase housing resilience, sustainability and affordability. Cities and counties are setting ambitious housing goals, increasing funding and updating policies to support targeted development. New data shows that many homes and neighborhoods are at risk of flooding from storms, storm surge, and future sea level rise. Extreme heat and energy burdens are also impacting housing and residents with limited incomes. Multi-jurisdictional and cross-sectoral collaboration is needed to build more resilient, sustainable new housing, strengthen existing affordable housing, and address racial disparities.
In 2020, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council received a grant from JP Morgan Chase Foundation to develop new resources to enable local governments to more easily conduct vulnerability assessments for affordable housing and increase integration of resilience and housing planning. This conference will release new data and take the region through a review of flood risks to increasing density, funding retrofits to building truly resilient and sustainable properties and sites.
The conference will be held today at the Hilton Carillon in St. Petersburg. The media is encouraged to attend.
Session topics today include:
- Update on the Advantage Pinellas Countywide Housing Compact
- Rollout of the Keep Safe Florida program for property owners and managers
- Discussion of ULI Tampa Bay priorities and new buildings featuring resilient and sustainable construction
- UF and TBRPC release flood risk information Housing concentrations and flood risk “hotspots”
- FHC discussion of Optimizing New Funding with ARPA and other federal, state and local sources
- Supporting density policies and resilient development
- Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy burden
- Define ideas and actions for collaboration
Scheduled speakers include Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council Executive Director Sean Sullivan, St. Petersburg City Council Chair Brandi Gabbard, Florida Housing Coalition CEO and Executive Director Jaimie Ross, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kim Overman, Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse, Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey, Pinellas County Commissioners Pat Gerard, Rene Flowers, and Janet C. Long, Solar and Energy Loan Fund Founder and CEO Doug Coward, Sarasota County Sustainability Manager Sara Kane, St. Petersburg City Administrator Rob Gerdes, Pasco County Community Development Assistant Director Hillary Bruno and many others.
Please see the complete agenda for the conference below.
REACH CONFERENCE AGENDA
Time | Topic | Speaker |
8:00 – 8:30 | Registration check- in | |
8:30 -8:45 | Welcome & Introductions | Sean Sullivan, Executive Director Brandi Gabbard, St. Petersburg Councilmember/ TBRPC Chair |
8:45- 9:00 | JP Morgan Chase Foundation Comments | Tammy Haylock-Moore, Executive Director, CHASE, Commercial Banking, Community Development Banking |
9:00-9:30 | Prioritizing Housing and Collaboration Is the American Dream Just a Dream: No Single Answer to the Housing Crisis | Pinellas County Commissioner René Flowers |
9:30- 10:00 | Keynote: “Affordable and Resilient Housing: High Level Realities and Street Level Solutions” | Jaimie Ross, President and CEO, Florida Housing Coalition |
10:00-10:45 | REACH Highlights and Findings: Risks and Opportunities to Increase Resilience In this session, REACH project partners will provide an overview of local government programs and recommendations for integrating resilience and housing planning, and present highlights from the new report defining flood risks to assisted and unassisted affordable housing. At the tables, participants will review maps and discuss risks to housing and define local and regional actions. | Introduction, CJ Reynolds, TBRPC Speakers: Elissa Plancher, Florida Housing Coalition; Andrea Galinski, Research Scholar, University of Florida; Matt Varkony, NAS Fellow, TBRPC |
10:45-11:30 | County Initiatives in Tampa Bay In this session, elected officials who serve as chairs of county housing agencies/boards will discuss new initiatives to increase construction, financing, considerations for resilient development and other priorities for regional action and collaboration | Moderator Whit Blanton, Executive Director, Forward Pinellas. Speakers: Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard; Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse, Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey; Hillsborough County, Commissioner Kim Overman |
11:30-12:00 | Keep Safe Florida Roll-Out – Assessing Properties Enterprise Community Partners will announce a new program for Tampa Bay, to provide affordable housing owners and operators with tools and technical assistance to assess 50 buildings. Carrfour Supportive Housing participated in the Miami pilot project and will discuss their experience using the tool to assess 30 buildings in Miami. | Introducer: Brandi Gabbard, TBRPC Chair/ City of St. Petersburg Councilmember; Speakers: Sara Haas, Southeast Senior Director, Enterprise Community Partners and Salvatore Russo, VP of Property Management, Carrfour Supportive Housing Inc. |
12:00-1:00 | Lunch Special Speaker TBA | Pinellas County Commissioner Janet C. Long Walter Rodríguez Meyer, Principal Urban Planner, Local Office Landscape & Urban Design, Professor, Parsons The New School |
1:00-1:45 | Solutions and Strategies Session 1: Balancing Increasing Density with Resilience and Community Character Preservation Derek Kilborn will review the City of St. Petersburg’s process and recommendations Comprehensive Plan Update, Vision 2050 Housing Land-Use & Transportation and strategies for increasing housing. Linda Fisher will provide an overview of the Advantage Pinellas strategy to link housing, jobs and transit to create opportunities for all residents. Jerry Murphy will address planning for resilient development in Coastal High Hazard Areas. | Moderator Chris Zambito, CFM, Senior Project Manager, SNC-Lavalin Atkins Speakers: Derek Kilborn, Manager, Urban Planning and Historic Preservation Division, City of St. Petersburg; Linda Fisher, AICP, Principal Planner, Forward Pinellas; Jerry Murphy, JD, AICP, CFM, Faculty Consultant, University of Florida/ IFAS |
1:45-2:30 | Solutions and Strategies Session 2: Addressing Energy Burdens and Increasing Weatherization/Energy Efficiency Retrofits In this session, the panel will discuss issues associated with increased heat, energy burdens and the need for weatherization improvements. Taryn Sabia will review the growing challenges of heat and new initiatives to address urban heat island and energy burdens. Ann Vanek-Dasovich will discuss SELF’s new multifamily-lending product and collaboration with the South Florida Community Land Trust and the Palm Beach County Land Trust to leverage $5 million into nearly $70 million of retrofits to multifamily buildings. Sara Kane will provide an overview of joint Sarasota’s programs that support energy efficiency and weatherization programs. | Moderator Taryn Sabia Ed.M., M.Arch, MUCD, Director, University of South Florida Center for Community Design and Research Speakers; Ann Vanek-Dasovich, COO, Solar and Energy Loan Fund and Sara Kane, Sustainability Manager, Sarasota County |
2:30-2:45 | Break | |
2:45-3:30 | Solutions and Strategies Session 3: Increasing Finance and Funding for Housing and Vulnerable Communities The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fund affordable housing initiatives and augment other federal and state funding. This panel will discuss funding for programs from rent subsidies to new development and relocation. St. Petersburg will discuss their strategies; Pasco County will discuss their approaches for using the CDBG-DR; Hillsborough County will provide an update. | Moderator Gladys Cook, Florida Housing Coalition Speakers: Rob Gerdes, City Administrator, City of St. Petersburg and Hilary Bruno, Assistant Director, Community Development Pasco County; others TBC |
3:30-4:30 | Solutions and Strategies Session 4: Design and Construction Affordable and Resilient Housing In this session, Taylor Ralph will provide an update on ULI resilience strategies and Mitchell Rosenstein and Mark Rios will discuss new multi-family projects that have raised the bar on resilient and sustainable design and construction, and will discuss recommendations. | Moderator Taylor Ralph, LEED AP BD+C, Founder and President, REAL Building Consultants, ULI Tampa Bay Resilience Committee Chair Speakers: Mitchell Rosenstein, Principal and Co-Founder, Green Mills Group, Gary McPherson, Development Manager, Atlantic Pacific Communities, and Mark Rios, LEED, AP, Director of Development, Stoneweg LLC |
4:30-5:00 | Recommendations and Priorities: Next Steps for Collaboration | Facilitated discussion FHC/TBRPC |