Free Clinic, Metropolitan Ministries announce housing partnership

In a move to tackle the growing crisis of family homelessness in Pinellas County, two local nonprofits are announcing a new partnership to transform the lives of unhoused families.

St. Petersburg Free Clinic (SPFC) and Metropolitan Ministries are joining forces in a strategic partnership to provide comprehensive support. Both nonprofits provide food assistance, housing options and other wraparound services in the Tampa Bay area.

The collaboration comes at a time when recent data from Pinellas County Schools revealed that 3,555 local children experienced homelessness in the last five months of 2024.

According to the National Coalition on Homelessness, children facing homelessness experience more mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression and withdrawal. They are twice as likely to experience hunger and four times as likely to have delayed development. These impacts can have lasting implications if not addressed early in a child’s life.

“All too often, the experience of homelessness for children and families leads to devastating consequences, including substance use, chronic health issues, involvement with the child welfare system and the persistence of intergenerational poverty,” said Jennifer Yeagley, CEO of SPFC, in a prepared statement. “Through a partnership that leverages each organization’s core strengths, SPFC and Metropolitan Ministries aim to reduce the number of unhoused families in Pinellas County, increasing their long-term stability and supporting positive educational, health and economic outcomes for whole families.”

St. Pete Free Clinic is a nonprofit organization that provides health care, food, housing and education services.

Under the partnership, SPFC will provide two housing sites and support families with food and health services. Metropolitan Ministries will oversee programming at both locations. In addition to stable housing, the sites will offer counseling, education and career development services.

Metropolitan Ministries CEO Tim Marks said on any given night, his organization houses close to 300 families in emergency shelters or affordable housing facilities throughout Hillsborough and Pasco Counties.

“We are thrilled to soon offer more help to even more Pinellas families,” Marks said in a prepared statement. “Working together, we can provide the opportunity for more families to become self-sufficient via the strong collaborative leadership of a great nonprofit like SPFC. We hope to further expand this collaboration to other great Pinellas nonprofits as we band together to help even more families.”

Following a transition period in the early months of this year, the partnership will take effect in June 2025. Yeagley noted that more details about the collaboration will be made public in the coming months, including the participation of additional community partners.

.