first city in Florida to adopt the law<\/a> in December.\u00a0<\/p>\nWarren intends to build 10-unit transitional housing developments at two different St. Petersburg-based locations to start \u2013 Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church and Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each site will serve 20 youths. The homes will be made out of shipping containers \u2013 individual units cost approximately $150,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Financing the project is underway. This has proven to be one of the biggest challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the state funding agencies fund social services, but not the construction of new homes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll only sponsor group homes that currently exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren and his colleagues are working with Florida state representatives Berny Jacques and Michele Rayner on updating policy to \u201cadapt to new service models and methodologies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Spring Zone St. Pete team is finalizing the permitting process with the City of St. Petersburg as well. He hopes young people can move in by the end of the year or early 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point of this is really community building,\u201d Warren explained. \u201cSo much of what foster youth go through is because of a lack of family and community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This will allow participants to meet leaders and congregation members from the churches, he added, who can invest in them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The young adults chosen for the four-year program will receive workforce training and engage in a curriculum that focuses on financial literacy, mental health, home care and professional development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Warren said that the St. Petersburg Housing Authority will be providing Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) vouchers to cover the residents\u2019 $600 per month rent for the first three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside and the St. Petersburg Housing Authority have foster youth home buying programs, but they are underutilized because when the young people turn 18, they\u2019re not ready to buy a home,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is actually strengthening those efforts because once they leave us, they will understand the dynamics of home buying, being stable, and they\u2019ll have a career.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is to encourage \u201ctrue community integration\u201d where the young adults become productive members of society and purchase a home in the St. Petersburg area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to create a new avenue of development that\u2019s social service and community based,\u201d Warren said. \u201cWe can take a population that was ignored and part of the problem and turn them into a part of the solution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Spring Zone St. Pete team hopes to expand the initiative over time. There are over 70 churches in the area that have at least an acre of land.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got enough churches to be building for the next decade and at that point, we\u2019ll actually be ahead of the problem,\u201d he added. \u201cWe can take foster youth homelessness off the table in St. Pete.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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