Helping those
who must leave their homes.
 Approximately 550,000 Pinellas County residents live in an evacuation zone or mobile home. That’s over half the total population. So if a hurricane heads in our direction, where will they all go for shelter?
The truth is, public shelters, hotels and evacuation routes out of town won’t be enough.
You can help by setting up a Host Homes program within your organization.
Places of worship, businesses and community groups are the types of groups being encouraged to set up a Host Homes program to help their employees or members find safe shelter. Participating organizations work from within to match those who would need to evacuate with those who live in non-evacuation zones.
The program is simple. People who live in the non-evacuation portion of the county can volunteer through their organization to host individuals or families from that same organization whenever evacuation orders affect their potential guests. One person or a committee makes matches after obtaining information from those who are interested. The rest of the arrangements are up to the host and guest.
Most of the tools you need are included in the Host Homes Toolkit
Your small investment of time and preparation now will help take some of the fear out
of hurricane season and will possibly save the lives of people you know.
We all remember the tragic scenes from Katrina. Don’t let that happen here. Help our neighbors find shelter form the storm.
For more information about setting up a Host Homes program for your organization, contact Emergency Management at
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