The Morgan apartments face foreclosure due to unpaid utility bills and missed loan payments.

The apartments in Pinellas Point South, St. Pete, were not properly managed or maintained. Tenants were living in these apartments with pieces of the roof torn off, fragmented patios, and doors broken off their hinges. 

According to William Kilgore, an organizer with the St. Petersburg Tenants Union, the tenants struggled with uninhabitable conditions. 

“You got mold, pests, you know, things like that. There’s deterioration, for example, in the common areas; even though they have a swimming pool that’s, like, turned green algae, you know, creature from the Black Lagoon, you know, like, type thing,” said Kilgore. 

Multiple activist groups were concerned about this situation. This led to the Tenants Union being one of the groups that gathered community members at a recent city council meeting to push for St Pete to turn the apartments into an affordable housing project. They argued that the apartments could be transformed into safe, high-quality units. 

Among them was St Pete City Council candidate Courtney Bermudez. She sees this as an opportunity to improve living conditions and offer stability to working-class families. 

“We’re not asking the city to write a check today. We’re asking the city to do the research. Is it possible? If the answer is yes, let’s look at the next steps. These people deserve dignity and respect and a safe and comfortable place to call home,” said Bermudez. 

The group and Bermudez emphasized improving conditions and stability for residents, arguing that such housing could provide financial relief and prevent instability. 

The city council did not take any immediate action.

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