Pasco County updates outreach effort after 22 people placed into shelter since March

Pasco County officials told the Board of County Commissioners on June 2 that a newly coordinated outreach effort has helped move people living in wooded encampments into shelter and services.

“Since March 31, in our primary and follow-up operations, we encountered and placed 22 individuals into shelter,” said James Walters, the county’s program administrator for the outreach effort. “Eighteen of those 22 are still receiving treatment.” Walters described partnerships with Catholic Charities, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, Bayou Rescue, the mobile integrated health (MIH) unit and code compliance to prioritize sites and bring services to the field.

Danielle Husband, outreach staff with Catholic Charities, said the program uses newly opened shelter sites — Grand Boulevard, Youth Lane and a women-only shelter in Hudson called Felicity House — to provide low-barrier intake and stabilization. She described a recent case in which a man living at a bus-stop encampment accepted help and remained in shelter for intake and services.

Lauren Taylor, a social worker with Pasco County Fire Rescue’s MIH unit, said homelessness, substance use and mental-health needs frequently overlap and that the MIH teams provide on-scene assessment and connections to immediate care. “We are proud to be a part of a county that values collaboration, compassion, and positive outreach,” Taylor said.

Corporal Zimmerman of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office described the safety and logistical challenges of entering encampments and said deputies provide both security and on-the-ground knowledge of frequent locations and individuals.

Walters said outreach teams have targeted 14 areas (some visited more than once) based on intelligence from code compliance, sheriff’s deputies and public tips. He gave several examples of individual outcomes: a pregnant woman and a nonverbal 4-year-old were removed from a wooded tent encampment and placed into shelter; a man who had been homeless for years and was not receiving cancer care because he lacked an address is now a Pasco Hope resident and getting treatment.

Officials stressed continued constraints. Walters and other presenters said success depends on shelter capacity, staffing and coordination. The county hopes Catholic Charities’ planned expansion (more pallet homes and increased services) will allow more low-barrier placements, especially in East Pasco.

Commissioners raised remaining concerns about cleanup and private-property encampments: one commissioner asked whether a boat and ongoing debris at a specific site indicated there was a new camp adjacent to previously cleared land. Staff said public works and bidding processes are underway to address cleanup of county property and that ownership of adjacent private parcels remains an issue.

The board did not take a formal vote on policy changes during the update; officials said outreach will continue and that they plan to return with additional reports and potential staffing or capacity recommendations.