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Shelter for homeless in sight

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published February 22, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - A new 150-bed shelter for the homeless could be open within 90 days, months earlier than first thought, local officials said Wednesday.

Administrators at St. Petersburg College are developing plans to house at least 150 homeless people at the former headquarters of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority in Largo.

People would live in modular barracks-type dorms behind the former PSTA building on 49th Street, said Susan Reiter, the college's director of facilities planning and institutional services. The PSTA building itself would house area social service programs.

The facility may only be temporary, officials say. The site is owned by the city of Largo, which has future plans for the site.

Other specifics such as whether the portable dorms would be purchased or leased and how long would people be allowed to stay also are still being discussed, Reiter said. Officials hope to have most answers by the end of next week.

But even in its current form, the plan is the clearest solution yet to a problem most St. Petersburg residents say is getting worse.

"We want to move quickly. We understand the need," Reiter said.

College president Carl Kuttler, who had been asked by Mayor Rick Baker to help find shelter space, was travelling to Washington and unavailable.

Baker had said he hoped to have a 150- to 200-bed shelter operational by next winter, but college officials say the PSTA site could be prepared much sooner.

City Council member Jeff Danner, who is working with Kuttler and Progress Energy chief executive Jeff Lyash on potential shelters, said he believes the PSTA site could be running in 90 days.

Danner said he hopes the portable units will be ordered next week.

The city of St. Petersburg represents a quarter of Pinellas County's population, but half of its homeless population, Danner said.

"We want to get a midcounty facility up and running," said Danner, who represents the neighborhood where St. Petersburg's largest homeless encampment sits. "We need to share the burden."

The city of Largo bought the 5-acre PSTA site in December 2005, with plans to expand its nearby wastewater treatment plant.

Though those plans remain, city officials have said the site could be used to house the homeless for five years.

At that point, Reiter said, the portable campus could be moved to another site.

"It is time we step up to the plate," Largo Mayor Pat Gerard told the Times recently. "It's our turn."

The long-term countywide plan to combat homelessness includes creating three service centers: one in North Pinellas, one in midcounty and one in the south.

Baker said Wednesday he supports the proposal.

"It seems like they're moving quickly to address this," he said.

Staff writer Lorri Helfand contributed to this report. Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or 727 892-2273.

[Last modified February 22, 2007, 06:15:24]