HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Finding affordable housing is still a struggle for many in Hillsborough County. Just ask Omar Barker.
“My journey was a tough journey,” he said.
He’s battled homelessness for more than a decade and continues that battle to this day.
“I’ve been in and out of a homeless state since 2013,” he said.
Tuesday night, he spoke to a crowd of more than 1,000 people because he hopes his story will inspire change.
“It has been impossible to find a place that I can afford,” Barker said.
The huge crowd he spoke to was comprised of members from more than two dozen churches from across Hillsborough County. The churches are members of HOPE, the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality.
Each year, the group spotlights issues impacting the community and urges local leaders to pass solutions. This year, the main focus is affordable housing.
“There’s one report that tells us we’re 12,000 units behind already, and we’re only getting worse,” said Rev. Justin LaRosa, a co-chair of HOPE’s affordable housing committee.
HOPE leaders like LaRosa and Co-President Sheila Simmons Tribble say there’s an even greater need for more after the recent hurricanes.
Hillsborough County has an affordable housing trust fund, but for two years straight, a slim majority of commissioners has voted to cut $16 million total from the fund. Instead, they opted to use that money for infrastructure and other priorities.
“We were already behind, but we are so far behind now,” Tribble said. “We have not been able to fund so many of the projects that are out there.”
The message of the Tuesday gathering: stop the trend of cuts and fund affordable housing to the maximum amount.
“Oh, that’s very important,” Barker said.
Commissioner Harry Cohen, who attended the gathering, said he’s hopeful the affordable housing trust fund will receive full funding in next year’s budget, but he said it’s unlikely, given what happened over the past two years.
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