There is currently a tent city operating in Pinellas County just like the one proposed here in our neighborhood.
Pinellas Hope is located at 5727 126th Ave North in Clearwater FL
This is run by the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It was opened in November 2007 as an experimental temporary housing facility. In April of 2008 they decided to make this a permanent facility.
This facility consists of no brick and mortar buildings. There are two trailiers for bathrooms, two trailiers for showers, a tent for dining, and a trailer for handing out supplies and check-in. There are several other trailers full of clothing and other supplies. There are about 350 tents packed next to each other with only enough room to walk between them. (It looks nothing like the spaious "campground" like pictures they have on their website!) There are also several porta-pottys throughout the tents because at night the tenants will urinate on the gound if the restroom is too far away. There are a few Shacks they have recently erected that look like poorly built garden tool sheds for the homeless to live in.
They take in the homeless not fit for other programs. They accept those who are not sober or still on drugs and those with mental illness. They also accept homeless from other states who come down for the winter. They have bi-weekly AA meetings. 54% of those who come into to the facility leave with having no employment. The Diocese considers it a success when they place someone on government assistance and puts them in a motel, in another shelter, in a substance abuse program or drops them off with friends or family even with no job or income. Some of "unsuccessful" discharges include death, hospital, jail or non-compliance with their rules.
This facility is not fit for people to live in and they take people not fit to live anywhere else. I would encourage everyone to visit this place to see for themselves just how bad it really is.
