Vote favors $300K infusion for Pinellas Hope tent city for homeless

Pinellas Hope will avoid shrinking its tent city for the homeless thanks to $300,000 from the Pinellas County Housing Authority.

The 250-bed facility near 126th Avenue in unincorporated Pinellas, run by Catholic Charities, faced the cuts primarily because the Pinellas County Commission reduced its share of annual funding to the program from $770,000 to $500,000 this year.

The housing authority, which is independent of the commission, voted 4-0 Thursday to provide money to help the program operate. A formal deal is pending.

Pinellas Hope estimated that without the cash infusion it would have had to eliminate 100 beds. Authority officials say the first half of the money will arrive by December.

"This was really good news by the Pinellas County Housing Authority. This was sort of the savior before we had to do drastic cuts," said Frank Murphy, president of Catholic Charities.

The tent city, built two years ago, helps about 270 people a day.

The housing authority is using surplus revenue from rent at its Palm Lake Village complex. Funneling money to help the homeless is part of a shift in priorities since embattled Darrell Irions left as the authority's leader this spring, board chairman Joe Triolo said.

Pinellas Hope relies on about $1 million in contributions from private sources, and the same from local government.

"Obviously the more participation we can get the better. ... The good news is we've had substantial participation from the faith-based communities," County Commissioner Ken Welch said.

David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8779.