Clearwater endorses county’s homeless
plan
March 23, 2006
by Lester R. Dailey
The Clearwater (FL) Citizen
CLEARWATER – Anybody who has ever walked through
downtown St. Petersburg’s Williams Park or behind
Clearwater’s main library knows that Pinellas County has
a homeless problem. On an average night, 4,450 people sleep
in the county’s parks, woods and doorways.
“It has become apparent … that our old way of doing
things is not working and we need to make some changes,”
Councilwoman Carlen Petersen told her colleagues at their
March 13 City Council work session.
Howie Carroll of the city’s Economic Development and
Housing Department said that an increasing homeless
population, a lack of resources, requests from advocacy
groups and pressure from state and federal agencies are among
the reasons Pinellas County and its 24 municipalities are now
getting serious about dealing with the homeless situation.
In 2004, he added, St. Petersburg started a Homeless Policy
Group, composed of city officials, hospitals, religious
organizations and businesses, and took it countywide.
“The initial call was to end chronic homelessness,”
but it was later expanded to prevent all homelessness,
Petersen said. Preventing homelessness is easier than dealing
with it after it becomes chronic, she said.
“The 10-year plan that has been proposed (by the county)
will lead to seamless coordination” among the various
agencies and governments involved, Councilman John Doran
said. “Tragically, most of those who are homeless now
were homeless before and are likely to be homeless again ...
Over 40 percent of the homeless are women and children, and
we should approve this plan, if only for them.”
The county’s plan to end homelessness within a decade is
summarized in a 62-page report. It includes 200 specific
goals.
Finding housing for the homeless is the top priority. Having
shuttle busses or providing bus tokens so the homeless can go
to job interviews or work also is considered important.
Almost half the homeless have a regular source of income, and
a third of them have jobs, according to Doran.
But many of them have physical, mental or substance abuse
problems.
“Many are dually diagnosed with disabling conditions,
which makes treatment even more difficult,” Carroll
said.
The county plans to spend more than $450,000 a year on a van
to bring medical care to them.
Mayor Frank Hibbard worried that providing too many amenities
to the homeless would attract more of them. But Doran called
that the “Field of Dreams Syndrome” and dismissed
it.
“The people who are homeless don’t come here to
become homeless,” Doran said. “They come here and
become homeless.”
City Manager Bill Horne commended police Chief Sid Klein for
his work in establishing the Clearwater Homeless Intervention
Program, but said that he would eventually like to see Klein
phase out of it.
“In the long run, I don’t think we want our police
chiefs in the homelessness business,” Horne said.
Doran said that the homeless need a “one-stop
shop,” and Petersen said that the system needs to be
streamlined to make it easier for the homeless to reach the
many programs available to them.
“Right now, it almost takes a Ph.D. to navigate the
system,” Petersen said.
At the March 16 City Council meeting, the council expanded
the definition of homelessness, endorsed the county’s
10-year plan and appointed Doran and Petersen to the
county’s Homeless Leadership Network.