$1,000 a month—including utilities.
An Affordable Housing Innovation Lab in St. Petersburg, Florida
Breezeway Land Preservation & Housing Trust
$1,000 a month—including utilities.
That is Breezeway’s target for a one-bedroom cooperative home designed for working people who help keep St. Petersburg running but are still priced out of ownership.
We believe affordable housing should offer more than a lower monthly payment. It should give people the opportunity to own something, build stability, and remain part of the community they already call home.
Our major goal is the proposed 32-home Breezeway Cooperative Living & Learning Center. But we aren’t starting with 32 homes. Gilbert and Dolly begin at a smaller scale, allowing us to test, measure, learn, and improve each piece before bringing them together.
Think big. Start small. Learn. Improve. Grow.
See how the pieces fit—and where you might fit in.
Latest from Breezeway
Meet Shayla
A steady job, but no clear path home
Shayla is a hardworking St. Petersburg resident with steady work, benefits, and even an employee-ownership stake. She does most of the things we tell people to do: shows up, saves what she can, and plans ahead. Even so, conventional homeownership keeps moving out of reach.
Breezeway asks a simple question: can we create one more path? A path that fits people like Shayla, keeps monthly costs predictable, and still works for lenders, public agencies, and neighbors.
Permaculture is the design method
The garden is not the permaculture part of Breezeway. The whole housing system is.
We use permaculture as a practical design method: stack functions, use what already exists, observe and measure, start small, and reuse what works. At Breezeway, that means connecting housing, food, energy, work, education, and ownership so each piece supports the others instead of competing for the same dollar every month.
Affordable enough to thrive
More than a mortgage payment
For most working households, “affordable” is about more than the purchase price. Total monthly cost is shaped by ownership structure, energy use, maintenance, transportation, resilience, and opportunity.
Breezeway’s work is to test combinations of these pieces in real homes, with real residents, and share what we learn so more people can afford not just to stay housed, but to build a life.
Community ownership in plain English
At Breezeway, residents buy limited-equity cooperative shares instead of a single private lot. They own and govern together, using clear bylaws and resale rules to keep homes affordable for the next resident.
This is not a promise that prices will never change. It is a practical way to share benefits and responsibilities, keep speculation in check, and give residents a real voice in how their housing works.
Think Big. Start Small. Learn. Improve. Grow.
Breezeway grows through three proposed demonstration stages:
• Phase 1 — Gilbert: 1 to 4 homes
• Phase 2 — Dolly: 6 to 12 homes
• Phase 3 — Breezeway Cooperative Living & Learning Center: 32 homes
The 24 × 24 home is the basic building block. The first build will be a training and documentation project. Each stage tests a different mix of home types, ownership structures and site conditions, then carries what works into the next.
Central Oak Park is our neighborhood laboratory.
We work with willing homeowners, renters, and small landlords in Central Oak Park to test practical improvements in homes of different ages and conditions. Changes might include energy upgrades, small site changes, or new ways of sharing space.
Participation is voluntary. Results are measured, documented, and shared so neighbors, partners, and the City can see what actually works on the ground.
There’s a place for you in this ecosystem.
Breezeway builds people, skills and neighborhood capacity—not just housing units. Residents can contribute in ways suited to their abilities and interests, while mentors, professionals and institutions help us test, document and improve the work.
You might join as a volunteer or mentor, contribute professional knowledge, offer a site or product for testing, help fund a demonstration, explore becoming a future resident, or carry the model into another cooperative.
Where do you see yourself fitting in?