Pinellas Hope Main

In case you haven’t heard by now, another tent city is coming to Pinellas County.

On a 10-acre tract of land off of 49th Street at 126th Avenue North, next to a UPS warehouse and surrounded by swampy woods, a camp of tents will emerge by Dec. 1.

The tent city (called a “soft shelter” by its proponents) is Pinellas Hope, an audacious Catholic Charities emergency shelter program that will offer shelter, meals, showers and bathrooms to nearly 250 homeless men and women. Catholic Charities donated the land, the Pinellas County Commission kicked in $460,000 and charities donated $500,000 to run the camp from Dec. 1 to April 1, which also happens to be the county’s prime tourist season.

“It’s a first step,” says Sheila Lopez, chief operating officer for Catholic Charities, who contributed the land for Pinellas Hope. “Somebody has got to do something.”

But — as is the case with all homeless issues in the county — not everyone agrees this is the best step to take. Some advocates say the presence of Pinellas Hope could actually harm homeless individuals on the streets.

This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2007.