City Will Help You Rehab Your Home

Wednesday morning, Mayor Bill Foster and Council Chair Karl Nurse launched "Rebates for Residential Rehabs", which is initiative targeting residential structures located in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program area (you can see the map of the area to the right).

According to the city, "the purpose of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is to provide targeted assistance to acquire and rehabilitate foreclosed upon residential properties that might otherwise become a source of blight within communities."

The home rehab program, which was created by Nurse, creates an incentive for private investment in the target area by providing a 20 percent rebate of the cost of specific building improvements to the owner of the residential property.

"Typically, these houses usually just get a spray paint job when they usually need more substantial rehab such as roofs, electrical and plumbing work, kitchen and bath work and often HVAC," Nurse said in a news release. "The objective to providing the rebate is to provide an incentive that will stimulate substantial renovations by leveraging the $400,000 city investment with a minimum of $2,000,000 of private investment.

City council has already approved $400,000 of funding for the rehabilitation program. National register and local landmark structures may also qualify for ad valorem tax benefits, which are calculated separately in addition to the savings offered by the rebate program, a news release said.

"To ensure the appropriate renovations, the rebate program has specific home improvement requirements and spending limits based on the criteria set forth in the program policy," Nurse added.

"Affordable and sustainable housing opportunities for all segments of our community are an important part of developing and maintaining a healthy economy and workforce," said Mayor Bill Foster in a news release. "The Rebates for Residential Rehabs Program is another tool we can use to help our efforts in the target area as well as add constructions jobs to the local economy."

City Instructions on How to apply?

1. Submit a typical City Permit Application (stpete.org/RebatesForRehabs) with required construction documents.
2. Submit the Rebates for Residential Rehabs Program application (stpete.org/RebatesForRehabs).
3. Upon approval of the permit application, city staff will schedule a preliminary inspection. The next business day an inspector will visit the construction site to review and approve the checklist.
4. Commence improving the project per the approved Program application and documents requesting any applicable inspections just like any construction project.
5. Complete all construction within 120 days of the date the permit is issued or submit a request for an extension from the City Building Official.

Sign up for the St. Pete Patch email newsletter to get our top headlines delivered straight to your inbox so you won't miss a thing!