Updated on December 17, 2014
Darrell Irions serves as the CEO of the St. Petersburg Housing Authority (SPHA), which provides low-income individuals and families with rental assistance. As a former commissioned officer in the Marine Corp, Darrell Irions has a strong personal commitment to ensuring that men and women who honorably serve in the military are able to obtain help in meeting basic housing needs.
Darrell Irions said, “No one who has honorably served our country should be left without a roof over his or her head. Our goal at the St. Petersburg Housing Authority is to provide affordable and sustainable housing solutions for these soldiers, through all of the programs available to us. ”
SPHA is working to build a fully accessible apartment development, with each unit designed to meet the specific needs of wounded and/or disabled veterans. The Request for Proposal (RFP) process for this development, known as the Wounded Warrior Housing Turnkey Development services project, was advertised in 2012. However, the RFP was cancelled in 2014, due to a financial gap in funding the project. Darrell Irions and SPHA remain committed to developing these affordable and accessible apartments for local veterans and their families and currently are looking into other ways to leverage available funds for construction.
In the meantime, SPHA will advertise a Project-Based Voucher RFP for Veterans during the first quarter of 2015. The goal of this federally-funded Project-Based Voucher program is to expand the availability of higher quality affordable housing units to the elderly, disabled individuals, and homeless military veterans. While similar in benefits to the Housing Choice Voucher / Section 8 program, these vouchers are tied to specific housing units.
Also, SPHA is working to increase housing vouchers available to homeless veterans through another federal program. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded 45 additional Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers to SPHA, bringing the total count of vouchers in this program to 275.
With the HUD-VASH vouchers, veterans are able to rent private sector housing in St. Petersburg, contingent on their motivation to continue treatment and improve their individual circumstances. The 45 new HUD-VASH vouchers are worth $272,587 in federal funding per year. In the past 12 months alone, SPHA put more than $1.3 million into the local economy through this joint housing program.
Darrell Irions serves as the CEO of the St. Petersburg Housing Authority (SPHA), which provides low-income individuals and families with rental assistance. As a former commissioned officer in the Marine Corp, Darrell Irions has a strong personal commitment to ensuring that men and women who honorably serve in the military are able to obtain help in meeting basic housing needs.
Darrell Irions said, “No one who has honorably served our country should be left without a roof over his or her head. Our goal at the St. Petersburg Housing Authority is to provide affordable and sustainable housing solutions for these soldiers, through all of the programs available to us. ”
SPHA is working to build a fully accessible apartment development, with each unit designed to meet the specific needs of wounded and/or disabled veterans. The Request for Proposal (RFP) process for this development, known as the Wounded Warrior Housing Turnkey Development services project, was advertised in 2012. However, the RFP was cancelled in 2014, due to a financial gap in funding the project. Darrell Irions and SPHA remain committed to developing these affordable and accessible apartments for local veterans and their families and currently are looking into other ways to leverage available funds for construction.
In the meantime, SPHA will advertise a Project-Based Voucher RFP for Veterans during the first quarter of 2015. The goal of this federally-funded Project-Based Voucher program is to expand the availability of higher quality affordable housing units to the elderly, disabled individuals, and homeless military veterans. While similar in benefits to the Housing Choice Voucher / Section 8 program, these vouchers are tied to specific housing units.
Also, SPHA is working to increase housing vouchers available to homeless veterans through another federal program. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded 45 additional Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers to SPHA, bringing the total count of vouchers in this program to 275.
With the HUD-VASH vouchers, veterans are able to rent private sector housing in St. Petersburg, contingent on their motivation to continue treatment and improve their individual circumstances. The 45 new HUD-VASH vouchers are worth $272,587 in federal funding per year. In the past 12 months alone, SPHA put more than $1.3 million into the local economy through this joint housing program.