TAMPA, Fla. — Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg’s Tampa Hope is one of the shelters in Tampa Bay that helps those struggling with homelessness.
Officials with the diocese say that the organization has helped house more than 500 people across its shelter network in the past year. That would include Britta Hammond, who says she was evicted from her apartment in 2022 while she was already dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis.
What You Need To Know
Shelters connected to the Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg have housed more than 500 people this year
Britta Hammond is now living in an apartment after experiencing homelessness
Britta said she’s going into an accelerated program for a nursing degree
Her medical issues have continued since then — she says she has undergone 10 surgeries in the past two years for a variety of ailments.
She’s been forced to stay with friends as well as at shelters while trying to turn things around.
“I started to lose hope,” she said. “My kids didn’t want to be around me. They were afraid that, well, when’s the next time mom’s gonna have to move, and they couldn’t come stay with me.”
However, things began to change after Hammond ran into her friend of 20 years, Olivia Hoegstrom.
“When she told me she was homeless, I was like, ‘What? How come you didn’t tell me?'” Hoegstrom said. “And she goes, ‘Well, I was struggling, and I didn’t want to tell anyone. No one wants to be homeless.'”
Hoegstrom said she immediately got to work and got Hammond a place to stay at Tampa Hope‘s shelter — where she stayed for more than a month.
She said she isn’t sure what life would look like without Hoegstrom’s love and care.
“When I watched you come and pick me up, even though you had a lot of other stuff going on at home, you still came and cared about me,” Hammond said. “That meant everything to me. It still means everything to me.”
Now, Hammond has a place of her own, and she’s going into an accelerated program for a nursing degree.