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Neighbors renew objections to altered New Port Richey homeless plan

 
A proposed homeless shelter on Youth Lane, near Ridge and Little roads, no longer is intended to serve chroncially homeless men in the approximately 100 homeless camps around will the county. Instead, the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County will focus on sheltering homeless families. TIMES photo
A proposed homeless shelter on Youth Lane, near Ridge and Little roads, no longer is intended to serve chroncially homeless men in the approximately 100 homeless camps around will the county. Instead, the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County will focus on sheltering homeless families. TIMES photo
Published May 21, 2018

NEW PORT RICHEY – The audience was color coded. Neighbors opposing a family homeless shelter and service center wore red T-shirts. Advocates who believed the proposal had become too diluted and benefitted the wrong people dressed in lavender or purple.

But the crisp navy blue uniform of New Port Richey Police Detective Karen Norris may have drawn the most attention.

"We are under the misunderstanding that we're going to bring this (homeless) problem to the area,'' Norris said, fighting back tears. "This problem is already here.''

Her emotional testimony came near the conclusion of a three-hour community meeting May 16 that drew a standing-room-only crowd to the West Pasco Government Center. They came to hear details on a proposal to turn the shuttered former Boys & Girls Club headquarters and teen center into a homeless shelter and service center for people seeking permanent housing.

Originally dubbed a navigation center that would shelter chronically homeless men inhabiting the approximately 100 homeless camps around the county, the proposal has been rechristened as a housing service center and repurposed to shelter families with children.

The center, in county-owned buildings, but run by the Homeless Coalition of Pasco, would be at the end of Youth Lane, near Ridge and Little Roads. The proposed changes did little to placate residents of nearby Crane's Roost and Radcliffe Estates who repeated their past concerns about rising crime and lower property values.

"I feel that this is a big threat,'' said Anne Corona, who suggested the $700,000 remodeling costs would be better spent on elderly nutrition programs.

The shelter would serve four to six families at a time, staying an average of 45 days each, before moving to more permanent housing. It is a strategy known as housing first. The center would not be a night-time-only shelter, soup kitchen, pantry, or rehabilitation center. In addition to the interim housing, non-profit agencies would provide wraparound services for financial management, job placement and other needs. Clients would need to pass criminal background checks before being housed. Staff, but not armed security, would be on-site 24 hours a day.

The coalition altered its proposal because of exorbitant security costs associated with the prior plan; a greater population of unsheltered families in need, and the extensive community pushback.

"We believe this location is better served with a family program,'' said Don Anderson, CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County who acknowledged the unmet need for a navigation center. "I recognize this is not sufficient, but it's a step we have to take for the community.''

Some homeless advocates balked at the change, saying the coalition had caved to election-year politics spurred by residents' unfounded fears.

"We are losing out on all the opportunities,'' said Kathryn Hutchinson, an announced candidate for Pasco School Board. "Those (chronically homeless men) are the people who need our most help, right away, to get them out of homelessness and show that Pasco County is living in the 21st century and cares about human beings.''

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The changes, however, drew praise from one interested party. Sarasota lawyer Robert K. Lincoln, representing the owners of the shopping center at Little and Ridge roads, told the audience "we're convinced that a family program does not pose the security issue'' that a navigation center would.

The community meeting was a precursor to the coalition's request for county permission to operate the shelter, known as a conditional-use permit. The appointed Pasco Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the matter at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 6. The full county commission will hear the permit application at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 19. Both meetings are in the West Pasco Government Center.

A February 2017 survey, known as the point in time count, reported 2,593 homeless people in Pasco, including 847 defined as chronically homeless. That means they had been homeless for at least a year or had been homeless multiple times while dealing with mental illness or another disability.

The overall homeless population in Pasco included 700 individuals and 1,800 who were part of a family. Additionally, the Pasco School District reported 1,735 students as homeless, including 321 living in either shelters or motels.

Significantly more people are at risk. The United Way reports 80,000 households in Pasco County fall into the category of asset limited, income constrained, employed. The acronym is called ALICE, but it translates to the working poor.

At the community meeting, a 26-year-old single mother of three followed Detective Norris to the podium and provided an equally sobering moment by putting a face on those statistics. She identified herself only as Shandi, a homeless person. She ran away from abusive relationship, she said, losing her home and her children.

"Do I look like a criminal?'' she asked. "Let's stop thinking that all homeless people are criminals.''

She was dressed in purple.

Reach C.T. Bowen at ctbowen@tampabay.com or (813) 435-7306. Follow @CTBowen2

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