Pinellas hurricane rehousing funding sparks debate

Pinellas County will receive $512,336 in federal funding to help rapidly rehouse residents affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Commissioners will now approve grant recipients to avoid potential controversy.

Staff initially planned to rank and award applicants without the commission’s oversight. However, Commissioner Vince Nowicki expressed concern that the Homeless Leadership Alliance (HLA) of Pinellas could receive funding.

Nowicki serves on the Pinellas Continuum of Care (CoC) board, which oversees the HLA. He said Tuesday morning that the latter organization may soon lose its status as the former’s lead homelessness mitigation agency.

“I would just be a little hesitant that we’re going to hand over a whole bunch of money to something that the CoC could terminate our agreement with March 7,” Nowicki said. “I would just hate to see money go to an organization that may not have the best intentions.”

The CoC’s board includes nine elected officials and 16 community leaders who fund programs that rapidly rehouse homeless individuals and families. The organization also supports related programs throughout Pinellas.

The HLA helps community partners and stakeholders plan, implement and strategically align countywide efforts to prevent, reduce and end homelessness. The nonprofit is searching for a new CEO for the third time in less than three years.

Monica Alesnik led the agency from August 2022 to January 2024. Daisy Correa succeeded Alesnik in March and left in November.

HLA’s former vice chairperson, Aaron Swift, became interim CEO in December 2024. According to the announcement, he is working closely with the CoC to lead the search for a permanent replacement.

Nowicki said Tuesday that CoC’s executive board issued a letter stating it would either terminate HLA’s status as the lead agency March 7 or give the nonprofit a “stringent list of real contingencies to meet.” Commissioner Chris Scherer asked if staff could remove HLA from grant consideration pending that outcome.

“It gets very tricky when you start removing organizations from a funding opportunity if you do not have very clear, delineated examples of how they have either misused or misappropriated funding,” replied Commissioner Renee Flowers.

The federal funding stems from two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. County officials can use the money to help those who are or could become homeless in areas affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Joe Riddle, planning manager for the housing and community development department, said the funding would support residents not served through previous federal disaster relief programs. The HLA’s Funding Council helped establish the county’s priorities.

Riddle said the HLA must still apply for a grant like any other organization. “We’ll also be focusing on … our providers that are out there providing the services so we can get the funding in their hands.”

Flowers noted nonprofits often experience turnover and must address temporary issues. However, she doesn’t believe it should affect funding opportunities.

Flowers added that the commission should read every proposal before deciding to remove one applicant from consideration. While Riddle said there was no deadline to approve HUD’s grant, waiting until after the CoC’s meeting would delay the launch of much-needed rapid rehousing services.

“I would recommend that you have a clear, articulable basis for excluding an entity,” added Dan Crowell, chief assistant county attorney. “That we can enunciate clearly to differentiate them from all the others. That will make it far more defensible should we be challenged on this in the future.”

Commissioners will not exclude the HLA from the application process. Instead, they unanimously agreed to vote on ranked applications at an upcoming meeting.