Some Pasco County residents are still stuck in shelters and hotels because of damage their homes sustained during recent hurricanes.
To help them, the county is helping open temporary housing, where some of those residents can get back to a bit of normalcy.
The 2-acre strip of land in the town of Holiday has 50 small pallet homes and 25 RVs for residents who were displaced during Helene and Milton.
The land was bought by Pasco County in July, and was initially planned as a place to provide temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness.
Pasco County paid for the homes, and the RVs were donated by the state, but the operations of the "Pasco Hope" site will be run by Catholic Charities.
Maggie Rogers leads the organization. She says apart from having access to showers, laundry services and their own bed, residents will also have a chance to get mental health counseling.
"Having a place here where they have access to talk to somebody about that trauma (is important), but also just time to have some peace, have some quiet time to themselves, reflect on what happened and how are we going to move forward,” Rogers said. “I think it's important to the recovery process."
Residents will also have computer access, medical support and the chance to participate in community activities.
And residents will have case managers to hopefully get them into new housing, or back to where they lived if it's safe.
Mike Carballa is Pasco's county administrator. He says once those displaced by the storms are served, the site will revert back to its initial purpose.
"It is my hope that it becomes a homeless transition piece,” Carballa said. “Because listen — the homeless will always be with us in some form or fashion, and that cycle continues. We just want to help break the cycle for those that want to get out of it."
The site is located at 2654 Grand Blvd. in Holiday. Officials are aiming to open it sometime next week.
They say they’re still vetting who in their shelters and hotels will be given the opportunity to live on the site, and still need time to fully assess the county’s mobile home parks, which suffered major damage in some areas.
Qualifying residents have to live in Pasco County and must have been displaced by the recent storms. Pets will be allowed on a case-by-case basis.
“While I'm very sad that something so horrific as these two hurricanes had to happen, particularly Helene, that Pasco County suffered from, good will come of it, and we'll get to help thousands of people,” Rogers said. “And years from now, Pasco County and the community will be able to look back and they'll see the numbers of folks that we've been able to help.”
