Tampa Bay REACH Initiative

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Affordable Housing and Flood Risk Throughout the Region: A Density Analysis of Flood Risk and Social Vulnerability

This report evaluates the flood risk exposure of subsidized (assisted) multi-family housing and non-subsidized affordable housing which includes apartments, single-family homes, and mobile homes in the seven counties in the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition.

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Resilient Housing Tools and Resources

The TBRPC in partnership with the Florida Housing Coalition, the University of Florida Shimberg Center has created new programs and tools to support housing resilience and affordability goals. These new resources include a new flood hazard mapper, databases, and multiple guides to integrate resilience planning and affordable housing planning. The resources are designed to support Planning, Community Development, Floodplain managers, and Housing professional.

Visit the Housing Affordability & Resiliency Hub

REACH HOUSING AFFORDABILITY AND RESILIENCY CONFERENCE

On May 6^th, 2022, the TBRPC hosted the REACH conference with leading housing experts and dynamic panels. At the conference, participants learned about the following:

New regional flood risk assessment of assisted and unassisted affordable housing and hotspots
Local initiatives to increase housing construction including land-use policy changes to support missing middle, Countywide collaboration, locally derived housing trust funds
Best practices for integrating resilience and housing planning, funding and finance strategies
Panel with innovative developers
Programs that are addressing energy burden and increase sustainability

To watch the sessions and download the presentations, go to the REACH conference page.

Go to THE REACH CONFERENCE page

Resilience and Energy Assessment of Communities and Housing

Many homes throughout the region and especially those in low and moderate-income neighborhoods are at risk from extreme weather, flooding, storm surge and future sea level rise. The region also faces a severe shortage of affordable and attainable housing, and many options such as mobile homes and older structures are not resilient.

Some local governments are beginning to conduct community vulnerability assessments, however, the region lacks a common framework, consistent metrics, standardized data and technical resources to fully assess risks to housing. Resiliency, neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing priorities should be integrated and addressed together.

On January 7, 2020, The JPMorgan Chase Foundation awarded $500,000 to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council to implement a new initiative called the Resilience and Energy Assessment of Communities and Housing (REACH) that supports the Regional Resilience Coalition and member governments.

The REACH Project will bring together the region’s housing, resilience, and recovery planning experts and community leaders to assess potential risks that local communities face from extreme weather and sea level rise, and define new strategies and policies to increase affordable, resilient housing development and redevelopment.

During the two-year project, the TBRPC and local government Partners will work to integrate affordable housing, neighborhoods and community redevelopment into climate vulnerability assessments, and resilience and sustainability planning. The REACH project will provide local governments and community organizations with critical data and new tools to quantify risks and support decision-making.

Program Activities and Implementation Strategy

REACH will bring together the Tampa Bay region’s housing and resilience experts through a series of participatory workshops to create a baseline community vulnerability assessment (CVA) of lower-income communities and housing stock. The project will be conducted in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Manatee Counties and specific interested cities. REACH will focus on housing in under-served and economically distressed areas.

Led by the TBRPC, the project team includes housing and community resilience experts at the following organizations:

Housing Initiatives Around the Region

To tackle critical affordable housing questions, Pinellas County and Forward Pinellas brought together community leaders and subject matter experts in a series of webinars in the fall of 2020. CJ Reynolds, TBRPC director of Resiliency and Engagement participated in the final “Homes for Pinellas” webinar hosted by Deputy County Administrator Jill Silverboard.

CJ and the panelists, which also included Evan Johnson, Interim Planning Division Manager for Pinellas County Housing and Community Development, Ben Toro-Spears, Chief Strategy Officer for the Florida Housing Coalition, and Julie Rocco, Senior Community Engagement Advocate for the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, discussed the need and benefits of creating a countywide housing strategy, and the idea of a housing compact as the next step to creating more homes.

The webinar also included presentations from Barry A. Burton, Pinellas County Administrator and Jamie Ross, President and CEO of the Florida Housing Coalition, and interviews with leading municipal staff, housing advocates and elected officials.

In 2020, the TBRPC and Pinellas county began collaborating on several affordable housing initiatives, and Reynolds serves on the County’s County-wide Housing Tactical Team. The TBRPC is leading the REACH Project in collaboration with the Florida Housing Coalition, United Way Suncoast, UF Shimberg Center for Housing Studies and the USF Center for Community Design and Research to develop a new suite of resilience and housing resources for local governments.

To watch this webinar: https://youtu.be/cJJRy9pMVBw

Advancing Best Practices for Integrating Resilience and Affordable Housing Planning

Building on the TBRPC’s REACH project and the ECRPC’s housing resilience planning project, staff have been invited to speak at statewide conferences to create awareness of the new tools, resources and best practices. The new housing resilience efforts focus on conducting vulnerability assessments for affordable housing and integrating resilience planning and affordable housing planning. CJ Reynolds, TBRPC director of resilience and engagement and Jenifer Rupert, ECRPC regional resilience officer spoke at the Florida Housing Coalition annual conference. At the annual Florida APA Conference in Orlando, Reynolds, Daphne Green, ECRPC planner III and other panelists shared best practices and recommendations during the two-part session “Creating a Housing Resilience Strategic Plan to Protect Vulnerable People and Properties”. Local governments can access the TBRPC resilient housing resources at: www.tbrpc.org/resiliency/housing/

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REACH Highlights

REACH Webinar: Mapper and Database Training Workshop

Register for the May 26, 2022 REACH webinar to use the new flood mapper tool, conduct targeted analysis, and download data to use in your community vulnerability assessments. The REACH team will release the new regional housing report which defines risks to affordable housing in each Tampa Bay Regional Resilience Coalition county. The workshop will also provide training and tips on using the UF Coastal Flood Risk web mapping tool and database to easily [...]

REACH Webinar : Mitigation and Planning for Affordable Housing

Join TBRPC and experts from the Florida Housing Coalition for a presentation and discussion about improving affordable housing disaster mitigation planning and risk reduction priorities identified by local governments. We will review and discuss best practices and potential strategies for enhancing standards for new construction, redevelopment and rehabilitation in areas that are the most vulnerable to flooding. Your input at this meeting will help FHC and TBRPC to define ideas for Model Language to support [...]

Chase grant will help Tampa Bay area make plans for more resilient affordable housing

A $500,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is a big first step to planning more resilient affordable housing in the region. The two-year grant program will fund the Council’s new Resilient and Energy Assessment of Communities and Housing program, known as REACH. REACH will create consistent data and mapping that will help communities better measure and understand the problems affordable housing residents face both before a weather disaster strikes [...]