TAMPA, Fla. — As Florida continues to grow at unprecedented rates, all of the extra people are making it tougher to find an affordable apartment or even keep your existing rent from skyrocketing when your lease is up.
Jerome Deniz has felt the pinch. For 13 years, he lived in Channelside but was forced out due to the sky-high rent impacting folks across the Tampa Bay area.
"I got there in 2009. I was paying $1,248 a month and I left a year ago. I was there for 13 years. When I left, I was already paying $2,600 and I left because they wanted to raise my rent $800 more dollars," Deniz said.
Marissa Hibel recently re-signed her lease in September and feels the rental strain too.
"Last year when I signed, it was $400 less than when I just resigned this September, so it's creeping up," Hibel said.
As for Isabella Pavia, she and her roommates got lucky and found a rental in their price range, but it wasn't without its challenges.
"Everything is basically out of our price range because of how expensive rent prices are here. Especially being a college student," Pavia said.
Pavia attends the University of Tampa and loves the area, but said if she didn't find an affordable place to live, she may have had to transfer schools. She has already heard of other students who have had to do so.
"One of my friends actually last year because everything was just so expensive she had to transfer," Pavia said.
According to Redfin, there's a glimmer of hope for some. A recent study found the median rent rate dropped to .04% in March. That's the lowest level in 13 months.
But, that hope doesn't apply to renters in the Tampa Bay area. The same report shows rent rates in the Tampa metro area rose close to 4%.
Digging deeper into the numbers, according to GoBankingRates.com, renters need to make nearly $70,000 a year to afford a place in Tampa.
"It's what we should realistically expect in real estate markets," Dr. Shelton Weeks said.
Weeks is an expert in real estate and financial markets with Florida Gulf Coast University. He reiterates the reason behind the rent hikes is everyone wants to move to the Tampa area and there isn't enough inventory.
He said in order to address the problem, our society needs to think outside of ourselves and look at the bigger picture. That means adding more density. Put simply, he said it requires rezoning land to allow multi-family dwellings.
"While we may not want the extra traffic from the apartment complex next door, we still want to be able to walk into our favorite restaurant and then be fully staffed to be able to get a table and be served or go to whatever retailer and have those folks fully staffed because their employees can find housing in our markets," Weeks said.
Weeks said there's no quick fix, but he explains if we think outside ourselves, we could slowly chip away at the outrageous prices and truly enjoy paradise.