Earlier this month, Hillsborough County Commissioner finally learned about the details of a plan to help the homeless conceived by a group of private and public officials, including Commissioner Sandy Murman.
That plan is to buy and rehab a 24-unit affordable housing development located off of Fowler Avenue in the University area of North Tampa. Officials say that after that is completed, they'll begin the next project, relying on soliciting funds from the private sector for their ultimate goal of creating 500 units of housing over the next five years.
Those plans come as the city of Tampa has has contended with an increase in homelessness, leading in part for the Council to pass a partial ban on panhandling last year.
But that ban - controversial in some quarters - has been the sole extent to what the Council has done in any way to or for the homeless population. That reality has led several members to express their frustration about their inability to do more throughout 2012.