Hillsborough’s Fight To End Homelessness Needs Brandon Voices

The Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County in June will be hosting a series of public meetings to discuss a new 10-year plan to end homelessness.

Brandonites interested in joining their Tampa Bay neighbors in developing an updated strategy for ending life on the street are invited to attend one of three public “charrettes.”

• Closest to home is the Southeast Hillsborough County event, scheduled for HCC at The Regent on June 2, from 2-3:30 p.m. The Regent is at 6437 Watson Road in Riverview, in the southest corner of the Winthrop community off Bloomingdale Avenue and Providence Road.

• This event, like its counterparts, is designed to determine “concrete actions and recommendations” for engaging “new levels of interest and investment in ending homelessness in Hillsborough County,” according to an announcement on the coalition’s Web site.

• Also scheduled for June 5 is the Northwest Hillsborough County meeting, at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Tampa. That meeting is scheduled for 10-11:30 a.m., at 6100 Memorial Highway.

• The Central Hillsborough County meeting is scheduled for June 6, from 10-11:30 a.m., at the Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, at 408 East Cayuga St.

• The coalition’s Web site describes a charrette as “an intensive planning process commonly used in urban planning,” allowing for “collaboration among diverse stakeholders to solve community problems within a very short period of time.”

For concerned county residents, the prevalence of homelessness is unsettling at best; for many of those whose lives have tumbled out of control, life on the streets is a stark reality.

The Homeless Coalition reports that the county “is facing increasing numbers of homeless and people at risk of homelessness and fewer resources to address those needs.”

Coalition officials said at the charrettes they hope to hear from service and housing providers, health and mental health workers, business leaders, policymakers and “other local stakeholders,” including representatives from neighborhood groups and faith-based and civic associations.

Concerned residents unable to attend any of the three charrettes are asked to submit their thoughts and ideas on the topics raised by completing an online "Community Priority" survey.

For more information, contact the Homeless Coalition online or by phone, at 813-223-6115.