TAMPA — A portion of the annual budget, which was passed by Tampa City Council, has been allocated for affordable housing. District 3 City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak has announced that funds will be set aside to address the growing issue of homelessness. Her priority will be to focus on rapid rehousing for families. She says her proposal could fill the gap and house families that may not qualify to stay at existing shelters.

Hurtak's priority will be to focus on rapid rehousing for families. She says her proposal could fill the gap and house families that may not qualify to stay at existing shelters.

Hurtak has been serving on the City of Tampa’s Affordable Housing Committee for over a year. She says placing housing near transportation hubs would be ideal for those struggling with homelessness.

“(Bus) Line one, which goes North-South and (Bus) line six, which goes East-West,” she said, “those are the most often-used bus lines and those are some areas that if we had empty buildings that we could renovate would be really wonderful.”

After passing the budget, she says the city has the opportunity to purchase, build, or rehab additional homeless shelters.

“Oftentimes re-use can be cheaper and take less time than doing something straight out of the ground," Hurtak said. "That doesn’t mean we aren't looking at doing things straight out of the ground. But, that's a really big hole for us as a community. We have rapid rehousing for individuals with Tampa Hope and with the Salvation Army. We do not have rapid rehousing opportunities for families unless their motel vouchers.” 

In addition to the city’s current partnerships with local shelters, she says this step is a positive move forward in addressing homelessness.

“Because it's growing, it's not reducing at all," she said. "It's getting worse and what we're finding is a lot of the homeless are actually hidden because the families don't want to be found because understandably, parents are worried that their children may be taken away from them. So they're living in cars and they're in hidden spaces."

Hurtak wants to make housing more affordable and accessible to families.

“I am a person who has the ability to make change, and so I feel obligated to continue to help in that way, to focus on the things that I wanted and I advocated for," she said. "And there's nothing better to advocate for than housing."

Her goal is to purchase old hotels and even unused office spaces to bring more than 230 units online for homeless families.