With the help of a city homeownership assistance program, Oscar Beasley bought a Tampa house that he hopes to one day pass down to his grandchildren.
Beasley, a first-time homebuyer, spent two decades in prison before working full-time as a truck driver. On Wednesday, he thanked Mayor Jane Castor outside his new home.
Without the city program, he said, “I would never have had the chance to get this house.”
Beasley’s home is one of thousands counted toward Castor’s goal of adding 10,000 affordable units to the city’s stock — a benchmark she has long touted in speeches, at meetings and, years ago, on the campaign trail.
In May, Castor said she did not expect to hit the ambitious benchmark by the end of her second term next year. But at a news conference on Wednesday, she claimed victory — with an asterisk.
“It’s not 10,000 units that are completely built and people are moving into them,” Castor said. “Those are homes that have been built. Those are homes that have been rehabilitated ... And that’s also homes that are in the planning phase.”
Still, she said, “I couldn’t be more proud. That number actually has gone over 10,000.”
Abbye Feeley, Tampa’s administrator for development and economic opportunity, said more than 4,700 affordable units complete or under construction, with another more than 5,000 in progress. Tampa’s next mayor can take credit for their completion, Castor said, “like I took credit for some of the ones that were completed during my time in office.”
“I’m not sure there’s any other administration that has put as much into affordable housing as we have,” she added.
For years, the mayor has trumpeted her administration’s promises to help Tampa residents grappling with the high cost of housing. A 2023 Tampa Bay Times report found that she had at times exaggerated or misrepresented the city’s progress toward her 10,000-unit goal. In response, Castor said that year that the Times was “splitting hairs.”
On Wednesday, Feeley said the city’s count had jumped up from the roughly 8,300 new units Castor reported in May. Several large development projects slated to include affordable housing are now in the works, she said, including the north downtown project at the site of the shuttered Army-Navy Surplus Market and the soon-to-be-redeveloped Robles Park Village.
Beasley bought his home with the help of the city’s “Dare to Own the Dream Homeownership Program,” which provides down payment and closing-cost assistance to first-time buyers. Depending on household income, residents can get up to $50,000. More than 70 people closed on homes through the program this fiscal year, Castor said.
“It’s difficult now, in these times, for individuals to purchase houses,” she said. Castor’s own son recently wanted to buy a home, but did not have the cash for a down payment. Castor had to help him out.
“Congratulations,” she told Beasley. “It’s a big deal.”
