Launched February 14, 2023: 'HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS' by award winning ZUMA photojournalist ROBIN RAYNE. Tampa has one of the nation's largest percentage of residents who are homeless, with numbers in Hillsborough County well over 1,500 during a recent count. A surge in housing costs in the Tampa Bay region has led to a 4 percent increase in the number of homeless. To help address the problem, Tampa together with a non-profit launched the Tampa Hope shelter, which plans to build 200 Hope Cottages that can withstand Category 5 hurricane force winds and provide refuge for those in need. 'Tampa Hope is a starting point, but it's not a permanent home,' Lou Ricardo of Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg said. 'The goal is to provide building blocks so residents can get a fresh start and leave.' Welcome to 'HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS'.
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #876: Launched February 14, 2023: 'HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS' by award winning ZUMA photojournalist ROBIN RAYNE. Tampa has one of the nation's largest percentage of residents who are homeless, with numbers in Hillsborough County well over 1,500 during a recent count. A surge in housing costs in the Tampa Bay region has led to a 4 percent increase in the number of homeless. To help address the problem, Tampa together with a non-profit launched the Tampa Hope shelter, which plans to build 200 Hope Cottages that can withstand Category 5 hurricane force winds and provide refuge for those in need. 'Tampa Hope is a starting point, but it's not a permanent home,' Lou Ricardo of Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg said. 'The goal is to provide building blocks so residents can get a fresh start and leave.' Welcome to 'HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS'.

Tampa Hope Shelter resident DOUG CRAVEN, 65, pushes his wheelchair through the tent village to his tent, his home, for the past year. Sprawled behind a former telecommunications warehouse in a quiet industrial section of town, 100 identical raised-floor tents are lined up in tidy rows in a 10-acre fenced and supervised village that offers fresh hope for homeless men and women who previously lived on the streets.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

RICARDO GARCIA, 70, stands outside his tent home at the Tampa Hope shelter. Garcia, known as 'Limo' to his friends, is a Cuban immigrant who worked as a limousine driver in Chicago, struggles with his cancer treatment and has lived at the shelter for the past 11 months.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

JOHN OWEN, 70, a Vietnam War veteran from Ohio who served in the U.S. Army, displays a ring that was given to him by a girlfriend decades earlier. Owen, who suffered a stroke, has lived on the streets for more than 35 years and said he misses his friend who also lived on the streets. 'She died from too much alcohol.. the bottle is what killed her,' he said.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

Sitting on a bench outside near rows of tent homes, RICARDO GARCIA, 70, known as Limo to his friends, uses clippers to give a fellow resident a haircut at the Tampa Hope Shelter.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

DOUG CRAVEN, 65, stands outside his tent at Tampa Hope Shelter which has been his home for the past year. Craven, a traveling carnival worker for most of his life has lived on the streets for the past 20 years.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

DOUG CRAVEN, 65, reads from his bible inside his tent at Tampa Hope Shelter which has been his home for the past year. Craven, a traveling carnival worker for most of his life, lived on the streets for the past 20 years.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

Residents chat at Tampa Hope shelter. Simply named ''Tampa Hope,'' the shelter is known in the homeless community as 'Tent City.' ''Our mission is to take those who are chronically homeless, assess their needs, provide them with the resources and tools they need to be able to gain an income and become self-sufficient, and refer them to permanent housing,'' explains Lou Ricardo, director of donor relation at Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg, the non-profit organization that operates the shelter.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

JOHN OWEN, 70, a Vietnam War veteran originally from Ohio and served in the U.S. Army, waits for a breakfast provided by volunteers at Tampa Hope Shelter. Owen, who suffered a stroke, has lived on the streets for more than 35 years.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

Sitting outside her tent home, TERESA GRIFFIN, 54, from Tampa, enjoys the safety provided at Tampa Hope. 'I was raped several times when I lived on the street,' she said, 'I feel safe here.'
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

JOHN OWEN, 70, a Vietnam War veteran from Ohio, wears a 'Fall Risk' band on his arm. Owen, who served in the U.S. Army, suffered a stroke before coming to Tampa Hope. He had been living on the streets for 35 years.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

An elderly Tampa Hope resident sits alone outside his tent as he waits for volunteers to serve a free hot dinner in the adjacent dining hall. Residents are provided with a tent, bed, blankets, shower and laundry facilities, portable bathrooms and daily meals.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

Tampa Hope residents are served a hot meal by volunteers in the warehouse that serves as offices and a dining hall. Meals are prepared by a variety of non-profit organizations and ministries.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

A painting by 6th grade local middle school student Rhianna Anderson with her quote 'I wanted my painting to represent hoped that you can do anything.' The art decorates the storeroom that serves as Tampa Hope Shelter's dining room.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

A resident walks past a tent decorated with a U.S. flag, and patched up with duck tape, where Cuban immigrant Ricardo Garcia lives at the Tampa Hope Shelter.
© Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire