Group seeks state money for homeless

Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco leaders might explore getting a share of $3.9 million included in the next state budget for transitional housing.

"The money will be there July 1," Greg Giordano, chief legislative assistant to state Sen. Mike Fasano, said Wednesday.

The Florida Department of Children & Families will take applications for the $3.9 million in the budget recently approved by state lawmakers, Giordano said.

The state's 2011 fiscal year begins July 1.

The Rev. Dan Campbell, pastor of Joining Hands Community Mission and president of the homeless coalition, traveled to Tallahassee in early April to discuss possible grants with Fasano, R-New Port Richey, the Senate's president pro tempore.

At the time, Campbell said $750,000 would help launch the coalition's 10-year plan to end homelessness. The plan was introduced on March 30.

"We don't know the particulars yet" about the DCF application process, Campbell said Wednesday after consulting with Eugene Williams. Williams, Pasco County project supervisor for community development, is the executive director of the homeless coalition.

"We are checking into it," Campbell said.

The coalition's plan is not only compassionate but cost effective, Campbell stressed during the March 30 presentation to county commissioners. The plan, dubbed "Pathways to Permanence," could save the county millions of dollars while coordinating efforts to help people become self-sufficient, he said.

The plan's first goals would be to triple the amount of affordable and transitional housing. Currently, for a Pasco family of four to afford housing, the breadwinner would have to earn more than $18 an hour, Campbell said.

In January 2009, the number of Pasco homeless was 4,527.

Another 2,395 Pasco children fall under the state's broader definition of homeless, which takes into account greatly overcrowded homes.

Campbell said he has seen well over a dozen people squeezed into a small home of about 1,100 square feet.

The economic downturn has only made matters worse during the past year, Campbell said.

Trying to manage the homelessness problem simply does not work, Campbell said. The number of homeless in Pasco has more than doubled since 1999. In the meantime, Miami reduced its number of homeless people from about 8,000 to 1,000.