4 minute read
Interview: Carole Post
On the radar
Affordable housing, workforce development and sustainability are priorites for attracting businesses and investors
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Carole Post
Administrator for Development and Economic Opportunity – City of Tampa
What are the city’s initiatives to attract businesses to Tampa? Among the mayor’s priorities is a focus on streamlining the development process and making Tampa a place where you can do business, while also focusing on affordable housing, transportation, workforce development, and sustainability and resilience. In each case, we are focused on executing plans and a vision that elevates Tampa on the radar of businesses and investors. We are evaluating our land-use strategies to ensure greater housing affordability across the city. We are committed to delivering more than 10,000 additional housing units by 2027.
Another key initiative is workforce development. The city of Tampa has many organizations and initiatives driving workforce development, but there has not been a single conductor for that orchestra. We have committed new resources to help influence a more coordinated approach.
Lastly, every coastal city needs a sustainability and resilience plan. We have a superstar chief resilience officer and that will help ensure that our city is sustainable for the long term.
All these are reasons to be optimistic about our city’s future. We have many activities in the pipeline; however, for any city, you can’t just rely on the municipality to do the heavy lifting. If you do, you will never be successful. Across our business sector, academia, and advocacy, we may not always agree on everything, but we agree that we are in a unique time for this city’s success and its future and there is a spirit of support for each other’s vision.
Looking forward, what is your near-term outlook for the city of Tampa? There are good reasons to be optimistic. We are seeing new businesses open and existing businesses reopen. We were optimistic before COVID and we had a great sense of urgency to get things done. We did not lose any of that optimism or urgency. We may have lost a few steps because of COVID and needed to convert some of our resources, but now we are more eager to make up that ground and get back on track. I would be remiss to not bring attention to the success of our city’s sports franchises this year and the economic byproduct that came as a result, notwithstanding COVID. Some say it was bad timing because we did not really get to appreciate the full benefit of winning a Stanley Cup and winning a Super Bowl in our own backyard, because of the COVID-related constraints. However, I think that it was actually great timing because there is no better boost than the one you could see from those sports events and what they did for our community.
( ) makes the Tampa Bay region a destination of choice for those looking to move to Florida. Not only does the region have a pleasant climate and few weather events, but its massive population growth in the late 20th century, sustained by visitors from all over the world, has created a solid, eclectic, vibrant cultural base that also attracts younger generations.
Landscape As of 2020, the city of Tampa had a population of just over 404,000, making it Florida’s third-largest city, behind Jacksonville and Miami. It is the 47th-largest city in the United States. Tampa ranks ninth nationally in terms of large-city population growth, according to WalletHub. The city’s population is growing at 0.61% per year but growth for the entire region is outpacing the national average at 2% per year. The city of Tampa has a young population with a median age of 36 compared with the state median of 42.4. And the cost of living is affordable for the younger generation. The March 2019 cost of living index in Tampa was 95.9, which is very close to the U.S. average of 100.
This February, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area rose 20 spots on an annual ranking of the nation’s best performing areas, landing at No. 32 in the large metros category. The Milken Institute study examines several factors including job creation, wage growth and high-tech GDP. A 2019 ranking from WalletHub placed Tampa at No. 5 and St. Petersburg at No. 14 in terms of the best cities to start a business nationally. In 2020, the same organization ranked the two cities among the Top 50 best cities for finding a job in the country.
In terms of accommodation, the greater Tampa Bay area has consistently ranked among the Top 10 real estate markets in the country and in a recent study by RentCafe, the city of Lakeland was named one of the top cities for Gen Z renters. Lakeland came in at No.4 for Florida, and Gen Z renters make up 26% of its population. Between 2019 and 2020, the city saw a 44% increase in its Gen Z population.
Yet the picture has a number of blemishes. The Tampa Bay Partnership Foundation’s State of the Region 2021 Regional Competitiveness Report showed median household income in the Tampa Bay area was $58,241, the bottom-ranked of 20 similar metros (Seattle ranked No.1) and below the U.S. average of $65,712. The report also showed the region’s advanced industry job share slipped to 11 from 10 in the previous report, standing at 15.03% versus the U.S. average of 14.52% and well below leading performer Seattle at 19.10%. The region also saw its ranking slip in the areas of unemployment, poverty and youth poverty. ( )
