A homeless family in Pinellas County will be moving into a completely renovated house Saturday thanks to an ongoing partnership between Florida Dream Center and Pinellas County Human Services.
- Homeless family in Pinellas to be presented with renovated house
- Family includes mother and three boys under the age of 15
- Mayor Rick Kriseman will be at the ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday
The home, located at 2000 43rd St. S., was a foreclosure property donated by Wells Fargo Bank.
It took teams of volunteers countless hours to remodel and restore the house. On Saturday, those hard workers will be treated to a barbecue luncheon at a ribbon-cutting and key turnover ceremony for the family.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman will be involved in the festivities.
According to Geoffrey Rogers, executive director of the Florida Dream Center, a single mother and her three boys — all under the age of 15 — will be the property's new tenants.
"The family was chosen as part of the partnership that the Florida Dream Center has with Pinellas County," Rogers said. "From the beginning of this program, we wanted to create housing for the homeless in Pinellas County so that the county could place them into it without any issues."
Rogers also said that because some members of the homeless community often have criminal records, it can be challenging to find them proper housing. For this project, though, they made sure that wouldn't be an issue.
"It's all really designed to get them set up for their own independent living," Rogers said.