Miracle Place Aims to House Homeless

The Tampa Tribune today reports on Miracle Place, the new transitional housing campus under construction by Metropolitan Ministries. Miracle Place will open in mid-August 2013 with 52 families moving into new apartments.

The construction of the Miracle Place campus was made possible with financing through the New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Program. FCLF provided $10 million in tax credit allocation for the project. (Read more about Metropolitan Ministries here, and about FCLF's NMTC Program here.)

Here is an excerpt from the Tampa Tribune article by Keith Morelli. The full article appears on the Tampa Tribune website.

When the idea of doubling shelter space for homeless families first emerged at Metropolitan Ministries two years ago, the number of people surviving on the streets in Hillsborough County was in full bloom. Miracle Place, a $23 million transitional housing project that includes 52 new apartments, was planned as homelessness here reached all-time highs.

In three weeks, residents on the waiting list will begin moving in to the new transitional housing complex. Those families are supposed to be there for no more than a year. During that time, they are encouraged to become independent through education and job training and save the money they make for when they move out on their own.

Metropolitan Ministries provides emergency food, clothing and educational resources to as many as 1,000 people a month, said ministry spokeswoman Gwen Harmon.

"This is unique," she said. "Other cities do it, but not as well as we do."

Harmon said transitional housing for families is key in reducing homelessness and that's what Miracle Place offers. Other phases of the project include a rehabilitation of the 25-year-old Family Care Center, a shelter that currently provides temporary housing to 50 adults and 100 children on any given night.

Article by Keith Morelli, Tribune Staff
Photo by Jim Reed, Tampa Tribune